


Finding Magic Among the Stars

by DragonDreads (cjbage)



Series: Magic & Stars [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, F/M, Non-Canon Relationship, Non-Graphic Violence, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-08-13 05:13:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 75,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7963843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjbage/pseuds/DragonDreads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vashlani had gone to the College of Winterhold to learn more of magic,  to fulfill his Master's last wish.</p><p>Several months and several mishaps later, he's approached by a fellow student,  one insisting he found the spell to open a pocket dimension. Before Vashlani could stop him he started his incantation. Only it didn't quite turn out right.</p><p>Now what is a khajiit to do when faced with a bunch of angry men and women along with strange, otherworldly creatures when he happens to pop in from nowhere and lands on their boat ... ship? What did that woman mean by starship?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> At the time of original posting of this work the first two chapters have been beta'd by Kate_Shepard ( http://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_Shepard ). If you are a Mass Effect fan please view her work and if you enjoyed it please be sure to leave her kudos and comments. Thanks.
> 
> The rest of the chapters, unless otherwise stated, have not been beta'd by someone else and I have done my best to improve my grammar, spelling and punctuation before posting. However, there will be mistakes since I am only human and not a professional editor.
> 
>  
> 
> Standard Disclaimer: 
> 
> Bioware owns all of the Mass Effect Universe, including but not limited to the recognizable characters and locations.  
> Bethesda Softworks owns all of Tamriel and the Elder Scrolls Universe, not limited to the recognizable characters and locations. 
> 
> Any original characters are my own. There is no monetary gain from this work, including but not limited to donations of any type. 
> 
> All I am doing is playing around with their universe.
> 
> **~**
> 
> Please do not use my original characters in a different story unless permission is asked for and received.
> 
> **~**
> 
>  
> 
> **\------ If you are reading this on any site other than Archiveofourown.org, please know that this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT given permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated, because you can read it for FREE on that site! See Author's notes for translation exceptions.------**

* * *

 

 

The khajiit worked diligently at the alchemy table. He followed the directions written on the paper exactly. When he was sure the potion was done to his Master's specifications, he poured it into the phial and sealed it. The colors swirled inside and it looked exactly like the one his Master had placed for reference on the table next to the apothecary satchel.

 He carried it to the old man who was propped up in the small bed, his eyes a bit cloudy and his breathing shallow. "Master, I have finished the potion, as you asked."

 "May I see it, please?" he asked with a small, rattling breath. His wrinkled, weathered hand reached for the potion phial and Vashlani carefully placed it in his palm. The old man lifted it to his eyes, then slowly unsealed it. He gave it a sniff before dripping a few drops on his fingers then rubbing them together. "Hmm." Touching the tips of his fingers to his tongue, he waited for what Vashlani swore was hours instead of seconds.

 "Yes. Very well done, Vashlani." He coughed and handed the phial back to the khajiit who replaced the seal once again. "You have come a long way, my apprentice, in the years you have been here. I will share with you a special bit of knowledge this day. You must keep this a secret from other mages as they will be covetous. Fetch me the small, purple box inside the trunk, behind the stone panel that hides our storage area."

Vashlani knew which one his Master was speaking of. Vashlani had asked him about it the day he had found it when he was cleaning out the room. "When the time is right, Vashlani, you will learn of the secret within. Do not make the mistake of letting your curiosity get the better of you."

Being a khajiit, he was naturally curious. Every time he went to peek inside the trunk however, he heard his Master clearing his throat and knew he had been caught. Over the years though, the curiosity about it was brought under control by learning so many new things. Alchemy and enchantment. Then there were the hours and hours of learning and practicing the spells that he wanted, and with it came the fact that he wasn't adept at everything.

  
His Master just patted him on the shoulder and told him to concentrate on what he was good at, better to be a Master at one or two things than be weak and poor at a large number of things. So he had taken his Master's advice, learning spells and incantations for electrical destruction, healing, conjuring, and a few other spells. His Master watched over him carefully, letting him learn and fail, instilling the need to work hard to improve. Because it worked once, he told him, doesn't mean it will work again or if you are in trouble.

Over the last year, he had noticed his Master slowing, spending countless hours at his small desk creating scrolls or writing in large tomes. Of course Vashlani's curiosity was  piqued and when he asked, his Master only smiled, "One day my friend; you will find out one day."

Apparently, today was the day and Vashlani ran to do his Master's bidding.

When he  returned, he handed the small box to him. "Listen and watch carefully, Vashlani." The old man passed his hand over the top of the box,  his voice repeating the phrase that was taught to him long ago to open the storage panel. Then his Master's hand passed over the left side of the box and repeated the phrase backward. The right side was done in the same manner. Three circles on the top of the box glowed. His Master pushed the blue, then the pink, followed by the black one. A soft click was heard and the glowing stopped. The lid of the box just slightly opened.

Inside the box was a bag. It looked like just an ordinary, handstitched leather bag. Nothing special. His whiskers drooped as did his tail. His Master let out a small laugh and started coughing again. Vashlani picked up the glazed clay teapot and poured him a cup, handing it to him carefully.

"I know what you are thinking. Why would my Master have that ratty old bag locked up?" He smiled at his apprentice, "This, my friend, may look like just another pouch, but it is not." He carefully took out the bag and set the box beside him. "Once again, pay close attention." He said a phrase that Vashlani had a hard time following. His ears twitched as did his whiskers. "Repeat it to me, Vashlani. Until you have every inflection correct, every word exactly so."

An hour later, his Master was satisfied and held up the bag. He repeated the phrase then tugged on the strips of leather holding the bag closed. When it opened he reached into the bag, up to his elbow then his shoulder and Vashlani let out a gasp.

"Ah hah! There it is." His Master said and pulled out of the small bag that was sitting on his lap, a staff. A rather long and ornate staff. "I made this for you, Vashlani, a staff to conjure a storm atronach. Your specialization with lightning spells will make it possible to cast your chain spell at the summoned creature and use it to spread your lightning into areas you can not see, further away from you and without causing harm to the summons.  Your greater knowledge of conjuring will improve the length of time it will stay to help you and its strength. When I noticed these things about you,  years ago, I started to make this for you and helped you to discover advantages in your learning, to make all your spells of that nature stronger."

Vashlani thought back about all the conversations during the long nights after the sun had set and the world around them had grown quiet. He remembered the guidance he was given and knew his Master had truly looked upon him as more than just a student. He had been a friend, apprentice... family. He reached out and gingerly took the staff in his hands.  He could feel the power pulsing inside of it, see the small crackles of purplish blue sparks running along its surface.

"The bag has other secrets as well. You have heard of pocket dimensions? That those capable of great conjuration can create small portable spaces only accessible to them and to the ones that know the phrases?" At Vashlani's nod he picked up the bag. "This is one such artifact. Years and years of study, of practice and preparation went into making this.  This bag contains everything a person could ever need, could ever want, in order to live comfortably. Inside this bag is a fully functional home. It took me years to create it, to add everything inside of it. There are plants and storage boxes. There is a bed, a study, and a kitchen. Every crafting station we have here in this cabin, there is a duplicate in there and so much more." He leaned back against the headboard.

"Countless years, that dimension was my only home. Until I found this cabin, and a month later you stumbled and collapsed practically on my doorstep, barely older than a child, so terribly hurt and all alone. I finally had a family, a son ..." His voice had grown weaker and Vashlani sat by his bedside as his Master fell into a light doze. His eyes glanced at the bag, his fingers  twitched to delve inside and see what else was really in there. But he knew better.  His Master was trusting him with this knowledge. Only a true Master of magic could create something like that, something that stable.

Later that night after helping his Master put everything away,  he blew out his lantern and settled down to sleep. Tomorrow was another long day of practice and tending the alchemy garden.

He didn't see the glow of the lantern coming from the Master's bedroom. It was almost dawn when the flame sputtered and died.

 

* * *

 

 

"Master, Vashlani has your morning tea," the khajiit said as he opened the door into his Master's room. He carried the tray to the small table beside the bed and placed it down before he noticed how still his Master was.

"Master?" He reached out and touched the cold, unmoving hand. "Oh, Master." Vashlani's head bowed and his tail drooped.

He sat on the small stool for quite a while,  the tea had long since grown cold, before he stirred himself. When he stood up he noticed the box on his Master's desk along with several scrolls. He picked up the roll of parchment that was propped against the box and read it.

 

_Vashlani,_

_My time has finally come, my apprentice, my friend, my son. I am leaving everything to you. I have shown you how to activate the box, how to open the bag. Now I must tell you the rest._

_Inside the box you will find the pocket bag, a book containing a list of items, a scroll, and a ring. The scroll contains the written incantation that is needed to transfer the ownership of the dimension to you. I set up the spell that way as a safeguard. The ring you must wear when you read the scroll so it will become attuned to you. Each time you wish to enter the home in the pocket dimension, wear the ring and say the words. To leave just remove the ring. You will teleport back to the same spot you were standing when you activated the bag._

_Now before you say it, no the bag doesn't just drop to the ground to be picked up by anyone. It comes with you as a worn item, just like a shoe._

_If you only want to place an item in the bag for quick retrieval, do not wear the ring. To take it out again, just think of the item and put your hand inside. Well, sometimes you may need to put your whole arm in there to find the item if it fell to the bottom of the bag._

_Inside the home you will find fully stocked supplies. The book lists everything inside the home and will update itself when you add or remove something._

_Here are my final wishes. You know my hatred of necromancy; I do not wish for some dark mage to raise me. So I ask a favor. The scroll that is bound with blue ribbon has a spell written on it. Carry my body to the forest out back, the clearing with mountain flowers and Dragon's Tongue. Once you lay my body on the ground, stand well away and break the seal on the scroll. Read it and put my body and soul to an eternal rest._

_When you have carried out that task, remove everything of value from the cabin. I mean everything, Vashlani. Check every nook and cranny. Store it inside the bag. You will find a well-marked container for the goods. The Dwarven Sphere you will find inside is tied to the owner of the bag. It can not leave and is content to stay there. It will sort the goods for you into the appropriate containers and update the journal. Once you are sure you have removed everything from inside and outside of the cabin that could be of use, open the scroll tied with the green ribbon and read it. It will summon my old traveling bag. It contains items that you will need for your journey._

_"What journey?" you are asking yourself. The journey to the College of Winterhold in Skyrim. My very final wish, my dear son, is for you to continue your studies and the College will help you to do so. When you arrive, ask to speak to the Arch Mage and hand him the scroll tied with the yellow ribbon._

_Goodbye my student, my friend, my most beloved son. The greatest day of my life wasn't when I created the pocket dimension, it was the day you stumbled upon my doorstep. May the Divines guide and protect you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vashlani's speech pattern will be different than the game in most cases. As a young child living in Elsweyr he was raised to speak in a regional pattern ( this one, this khajiit and using his first name ) when he came to live with the human mage he picked up on the more human type of speech ( I, me, mine, etc ). His personal speech pattern has become mixed because of it. So please do not post that "your khajiit doesn't sound like Vashlani" or that I need to change the way his speech is to match what you feel is the right way for a khajiit to speak.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter has been beta'd by Kate_Shepard.
> 
> Thank you to those that are reading. Enjoy.

* * *

 

 

He sat there for almost an hour, reading and re-reading the scroll,  before he started to carry out his former Master's wishes.

The meadow was lush and filled with vibrant yellows, reds, purples, and blues as he laid his Master to rest. The body disintegrated into fine ash that a sudden wind picked up and scattered across the entire meadow. The spell hadn't damaged a single blade of grass or stem of a flower. He returned to the cabin and set about carrying out the next wish.

The box was opened, the ring worn and the scroll read. He closed his eyes after the last word was said. He felt a soft, warm tug and heard water behind him. He opened his eyes.

He was standing in an open space looking at a small, cozy, wood and stone cabin with a cupola and several small chimneys on top. When he turned around, he saw a pond a short distance from it along with a building of some type near it. He turned back and headed for the front door of the cabin.

He got a surprise when he opened the door.  He expected to see only one room, as that was what it looked like from outside. The inside was much, much larger and looked to contain at least one more floor.

The entryway contained a small bench, boot rack, and wood pegs for cloaks. There was a large basket sitting off to the side. A small table with a floral arrangement was in one corner. Several display cases were on the wall holding various forms of weaponry. A few contained swords made from Dwemer metal, glass, and one of a deep, dark  ebony. Each one had a small plate under it designating where it was found and the date.

There was a small painting on the wall of an Ayleid ruin and one of a landscape which brought back hazy, childhood memories of southern Elsweyr, where he had been born and lived before his parents' caravan had been attacked on the road and he’d stumbled toward a lone cabin, hurt and alone. It reminded him of a time before he had been  found and raised by the human mage that he would come to call Master and think of as a  father.

He moved further into the home. Behind one door, he found what seemed to be a large study that contained bookshelf after bookshelf filled with tomes. A large fireplace flanked with two chairs and a large bear skin pelt was lying  in front of it.

There was a large painting of a town and what looked like a large keep hanging above a rather cluttered mantle.  The image showed a night scene with stars shining bright and the green before a blue and purple aurora that spread out over the sky. The small copper plate attached to the frame read Winterhold 4E 100. Vashlani took a closer look at the painting as this was where his Master wanted him to go. His eyes moved  over the many homes and thatch-roofed buildings that were covered in snow.

When he was finished looking at the painting, he studied the rest of the room. A large desk with a padded chair was near a large curtained window. The surface of the desk was covered with rolls of parchment, an inkpot, and quill. There were several books stacked to the side and a small framed drawing  sat propped against what looked like a wood and glass jewelry box.

He reached over and picked it up. It was of him as a child.  His Master must have done this without him knowing it. When he moved to return it to its place, he noticed a scroll with a key tied to it inside the casket and reached in, drawing it out and opening it.

_Vashlani,_

_Inside the locked chest in the corner are tomes containing all the known spells that I have Mastered and some that I have created._

_Many have been passed down from Master to student, recorded to be passed to the next and added to. Many are not ones that are taught in the College and are not to be shared unless it is to your apprentice and only after you are assured of their worthiness. Do not use the spells in the view of other mages unless it is absolutely necessary. There is a practice room in the cellar for your studies. Use it._

_The shelves are filled with tomes for your reading pleasure. I found them during my explorations of Tamriel, purchased if they were rare enough, or had been given as thanks for helping others. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. The locked display case contains my personal diaries along with a few special spells that will come in handy inside the pocket bag. You will have to search your new home for the key. Keep the case locked at all times, Vashlani, and safeguard the key._

He went over and opened the chest. Inside were stacks of journals and large tomes. Another note was lying  on the top most book.

_Vashlani,_

_The books you are seeing are ones that contain spells that you should be able to perform flawlessly at your skill level and ones that, with a bit of practice, should come quickly. More tomes will appear as you grow in skill and power._

_Don't forget to keep up your practices. Should you develop spells of your own, do not forget to scribe them into a journal and place them inside the chest. So many wonderful spells have been lost through the ages from those  who never bothered to make a copy and safeguard them._

He put the key into the pouch hanging at his side and continued to look around.

Various paintings and wall hangings  covered the walls. What looked like  Dwemer artifacts and possibly ones from the ancient Wild Elves(though his Master referred to the Ayleids as Heartland High Elves instead) were scattered here and there. When he was finished looking around, he walked out, shutting the door behind him.

He entered an open area that had a dining table with two padded chairs and two short benches around it. Flower arrangements and candle sticks were placed on the shiny, clean wood surface. More paintings, wall hangings, and various display cases were in the area as well as more items that his Master must have collected during his adventures.

Through an open doorway he found the kitchen.

Inside were many counters, barrels, and a large oven with a covered cooking area.  One wall  held nothing but cupboards and storage racks. A large rack with a wooden sign that read "Spices" was near the oven and held shelf after shelf of labeled jars and small boxes. Below it was shelving that held toweling. There was also a smaller table with two seats and two stools at a small bar. A small chest sat in the corner and he noted it without interest.

There was large window above what looked like a washbasin with a pipe coming from the wall. The pipe caught his eye as  he had no idea what it was but he moved on with a shrug. There was nothing there to tell him and he wanted to see the rest of the house before worrying about the small things. He'd figure it out later.

He continued through the home, seeing what looked like stairs heading down and another set heading up. A large, round, grated area was on the floor in the corner. He went over to it and looked down at it scratching  his head when he couldn’t find a use for it.

There were two doors along a wall that wouldn't open. Between the two doors was a small table that held a Nordic  urn in the center with a large arrangement of dragon's breath, tundra cotton, lavender, peony, and columbine mixed with a blue morning glory that trailed up a small wall trellis behind the planter. Sitting in front of it was a small, decorative box with a scroll sitting on top of it.

_Vashlani,_

_I added these doors in expectation of building more rooms to the home. Alas, that was before I found the cabin in which I raised you. I never got around to creating the rooms. Maybe one day you will have a family of your own or an apprentice that will make use of the rooms that you can add on. The spell is in a journal; you have a bit of learning yet before you are ready. When you are, the box on this table will glow and you'll find the book inside._

There was one last door. When he opened it he found a sitting room.

Several cushioned chairs flanked tables and long, thickly padded benches were up against one wall. A large window had another padded sitting area under it with a small blanket neatly folded on the seat.

There was another fireplace and a large glass door leading to an outdoor sitting area that seemed to overlook a meadow of some sort. When he peered through it, he squinted as he could swear he saw what looked like mountains and trees in the distance.

He hummed. His Master wasn't all that talented at Alteration or Illusions, but he did a fabulous job with making this seem like regular landscape, not something designed and magically placed inside a pocket bag.

There were more bookshelves and display cases inside this room as well, some were filled while others were empty, waiting for him to add treasures of his own to them. When he was done looking around he walked out of this room and headed for the stairs going down.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs several wall sconces lit up automatically revealing a large, round room. A bronze-colored medallion was on the floor with the same symbol that was on the keep in the painting of Winterhold. He realized that keep must have been the College.

From the corner of his eye he saw something moving toward him, a gold colored ball that opened up into a Dwarven Automaton, a Dwarven Sphere to be precise. It wasn't as large as the one they had seen displayed in a small museum of artifacts in Dawnstar. This one was a bit smaller than he was.

There were boxes, barrels, crates, and closed doors all along the walls. He started to walk around the open space and the sphere followed him.

He stopped next to a rather large chest with a gold nameplate that read, "General Goods". There was another scroll stuck in the handle. He opened and read it.

_Vashlani, put all your stuff in here and your sphere will sort it for you._

His ears flicked back and forth and he just had to see it. He reached into his belt pouch and brought out a single jazbay grape.  He  had been saving it for lunch but this had  made him curious. He opened the chest and dropped the grape inside. No sooner did he close the lid than the construct rolled over, opened it and took out the grape, moved to a different chest that was sitting on a shelf along with many other chests and dropped it in. It rolled to a small lectern that had a book on it and Vashlani watched as the construct scribbled something in the book.

Then he cursed to himself because he had forgotten to check the list to see how many were already there.

His tail flicked, showing his agitation, and he opened his copy and flipped to the section marked ingredients and ran down the list. His eyes grew wide at the vast quantities that were shown for everything. Finally finding the grapes on the list, he noted the amount and almost ran to the other container. He grabbed the scroll that was stuck to the side of the rack.

_Slow down, Vashlani. I know your curiosity is getting the better of you again. You forgot to find out how much was already here, didn't you, before you added something else. If you have checked your book, place your hand on the corresponding symbol  that represents the type of item you want, on the top of the chest and say the name of the ingredient you are wanting and the quantity of it, then open the lid. Your book has a list of the symbols and what is stored inside the matching crate._

The khajiit let out a soft purring laugh, his Master knew him so well. "Jazbay grape, one." He opened the lid and there was the single grape in the bottom. He took it back out and returned it to his pouch. The construct was busy scribbling in the book again. When it was done he opened his own book and the quantity was one less.

He gave an excited smile. He so loved magic.

He looked at the rack of chests before he started around the room. He stopped in front of a door.

Through the door was the practice room holding everything he needed to be safe while practicing his spells. Target dummies and absorption stones were in various places in the room, while stocks of healing and magicka replenishing potions were off to the side. There were spheres containing gems that would fire certain spells so he could practice his wards and armor spells.

Several doors he had opened contained supply rooms. Crates and barrels stuffed full of things like large sacks and soaps. A shelf was lined with all kinds of plates, bowls, and cups. There was  a small crate holding bundles of silverware.

Boxes of candles, towels, pillows, blankets, and bedrolls were placed neatly along more shelves.

There was all manner of things crammed into the rooms.

In the last of these storage areas, an almost empty one, he found a journal with a scroll tied to it letting him know that just like one tied to the General Goods storage, this yellow cloth bound journal would keep track of everything that was placed into the storage rooms; he just had to have the book with him in order for it to update. He tucked the journal into his pouch and closed the door.

Behind another door he found the crafting area.

Small rooms or divided areas branched out inside of this one large room. The main section was set up as a forge and smelter area. It also had several workbenches, tables, and a tanning rack along with a grinding wheel.

A smaller area, he was glad to see, had the jewelry crafting supplies already set up.

A huge pipe with spinning blades in it hung above the smelter and ran through the cellar's ceiling. He could feel the heat from the smelter rising and being drawn out through the pipe.

A large chest was sitting between the smelter and the tanning racks.

Inside another section was the enchanting area. A large, ornate redwood enchanting table was against a wall, along with a container marked Enchanting.

There was a strange-looking crafting station with a glowing red ball that was constantly turning under a wooden staff sitting in the holder. The scroll that was hanging from it told him that it was a special station only found in Solstheim called a Staff Enchanter. It was used to make the atronach staff that had been given to him. A red leather bound journal was sitting on a small wooden table next to the station. It contained instructions and a list of necessary components to create more staves with different uses.

There was a shelf with several small magical items that had no function other than as decorations. They were made by a form of magic lost to the ages, Creation magic.

His Master had once told him that because more and more mages just wanted to concentrate on those magics for Destruction, Restoration, Conjuration, Alteration and Illusion, that other forms had been lost. In some cases, they were absorbed and changed by being added into those five schools.

He hadn't really understood at the time. He’d been young and eager to learn, to prove his power and disintegrate their enemies with lightning, and he hadn't cared.

Now seeing the beauty of the objects that were in this room and the few that he saw in the main part of the home, it saddened him to know such a magic had been disregarded and vanished. He ran a furred hand lightly along a jar with the glowing purple form of a butterfly inside it before letting out a sigh and leaving the area.

An open doorway led to the alchemy area. Shelves containing many jars of ingredients lined the walls. Books of recipes were on a small shelf above the crafting table. It, too, had a scroll hanging from it.

_The chests located at each station are connected to the General Goods chest. Place the items inside to have them sorted or call for them to use._

When he was done looking round the room and at all the jars he moved to the last door in the cellar and went to open it. When it didn't budge, his ears flicked.

He looked around and saw a roll of parchment hanging well above the doorway. He grinned and cast the telekinesis spell that he was taught as a child and had gotten into so much trouble for when he kept using it for even the small things.

He laughed when he remembered using it to steal the Master's robe from the basket and had left his Master to run from the small pond up to the house naked.

_I never got to finish this room completely, Vashlani. The interior is built but I had to leave it empty. Between raising and training you, which took priority, my health had started to fail._

_When the time is right, when the room feels you are ready, you will find a new book will appear in the locked chest in the study. That book contains the spells that will unlock the door, to be able to conjure the items from a small pocket dimension and the purpose for the room will be revealed to you._

_One word of caution, the tome requires you to be precise. The spells can not be rushed. To do so will cause catastrophe and possibly death. Take your time. The practice room is the only safe place for you to try the spells. Do not read the tome out loud from anyplace other than that room until you have them perfected. You will know when the script starts to glow._

_When the first spell is ready, stand in front of this door and read the spell. It will disappear from the book, if it has been read properly, and the door will open for you. Once that is done, begin practicing the second of the spells. DO NOT JUMP AHEAD!_

_Once that one glows the same way, go inside the room and repeat it. It, too, will disappear from the book and that dimension will collapse._

_Practice the final spell located in that book and, when it is ready, stand inside the room and read it. The purpose of the room will be revealed in detail and you will find a small journal with detailed instructions and a set of special spells in it. Read them, learn them, and practice them.  From there you can begin to use it._

_A friendly piece of advice, be cautious where and how you use it and who you use it in front of._

He headed back up to the main part of the house this time using the stairs going up to the top floor.

It was his bedroom and even a bathing room, complete with running water, and of course another scroll.

He noticed another grate in the floor and looked down through it. He could just see the grate that was in the corner on the main floor. He still couldn't figure out what it was for. He looked up to the ceiling and noticed a bronze-colored medallion shape above the area.

He stood in the bathroom and read the scroll.

_Soap and towels are in the baskets. Drop your wet or dirty things into the large basket under the sink. The sphere will clean them and have them ready for you each day._

_When I found him, I was inside a Dwemer ruin and that day I also found the plans for what they had listed as "indoor plumbing"._

_P.S. The blue colored knob is for cold water,  the red one is for heated water. Twist clockwise to turn on, counter clockwise to turn off.  The toilet is used in place of the outhouse bucket. Don't waste the water._

Of course the first thing he did was fiddle with the knobs then push the handle on the thing marked toilet and watched the water spin and disappear. He did that several times before he remembered not to waste the water.

Back in his bedroom he moved to a curtained set of double doors that led onto a balcony with a view of the meadow. He noticed several trees and buildings were scattered around the area.

He sat for a few minutes on one of the cushioned chairs and thought what it would have been like to have had the opportunity to share this place with his Master instead of the small three room cabin they had lived in for so many years.

He opened one of the several closets in his room and found them filled with various robes, tunics, and soft leather pants. All of them had been altered to fit a khajiit body and were made of the finest quality silks and cotton fabrics, rather than scratchy linens that would catch some of his fur once in awhile. Several sets of khajiit style boots were sitting in the bottom of the closet as well.

His dressers were filled with small clothes and plainer garments meant to wear while working at the forge or outdoors. He had a few of these sets already, though they were patched multiple times, unlike these new ones.

On top of one of the dressers was a small casket. When he opened it, he found a key tied to a note that told him it was for the display cases.

He moved to the rather large, ornate four poster bed and sat on it. He let out a hum then dropped backward to lay on the mattress and stare up at the blue and white fabric canopy. He let out a contented sigh as the mattress seemed to be just perfect.

He let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes, tempted to take a nap before going back but knew he had to get everything finished first before he could sleep.

Outside he found a huge greenhouse with every plant he could ever hope for, along with a small apiary in the corner and bees busily doing bee things. A small chest in the corner caught his eye and he read the attached note.

_This chest is magically linked to the General Goods box. After you harvest the ingredients you can just put them in here instead of carting them all back to the house. The sphere comes out every day to harvest the mature plants and apiary in case you get busy and don't show up for a while._

There was a small stable area, but no animals. A small note was tied to the gate.

 _Never got around to getting animals. There is room for 2 goats and 2 chickens. Around back you will find a large fenced meadow. It is magical, of course, and never needs water or to be re-seeded.  The sphere has already been told how to care for them, should you stick any in here. Just make sure to move them to their respective areas and not just let them roam the house._ _Inside the locked display case in the study is a special spell to use on the animals.  Just like the bees in the greenhouse,  they will become immortal. The chickens will always lay an egg and the goats will always give milk. I wrote it in the diary with the blue cloth and flower patterned cover._

_PPS. That spell can't be used on anything outside of this bag and most definitely nothing other than animals, so don't even think about using on it yourself or another._

He was wandering outside when he saw the construct rise up out of the ground and, of course, he had to go see how.

There seemed to be a metal panel in the ground. So he waited and watched for the sphere to come back from behind the greenhouse.  When it did, it was carrying a basket of green and red apples and heading for the panel. It came to a stop on it, then a whirring sound was heard and it lowered back down into the ground.  It was a miniature Dwemer lift. That must also be what the circular grate inside the house was, another lift.

The only other building outside was a gazebo that overlooked the pond. There was even a giant magelight in the sky that resembled the sun. It took great skill to create this place. Pocket dimensions could become unstable but this one seemed to be... different.

After a few minutes he took off the ring and reappeared back in the cabin. Time to finish up.

His apothecary bag filled near to bursting from the mature ingredients he harvested from their garden and jars filled with honey and their honeycombs, from the apiaries he had built for them so very long ago, was placed on the kitchen table.

Every scrap of food was gathered together. Every container was emptied and searched. The storeroom completely emptied. The bookshelves checked and pulled away from the wall to make sure nothing had fallen behind it. He checked the closets and under the beds. Nothing there but dust bunnies at least.

The rest of the day was spent moving the items into the bag. That night he slept in the bed he had occupied for the last two decades for the final time.

 

* * *

 

 

When Vashlani woke the following morning he gave a sad sounding purr. He was about to leave his home in the mountains and travel to the frozen north of Skyrim.

He hated the cold.

Khajiit hail from Elsweyr; where the sands were warm and the sun shines. Here in the mountains they had a wide range of temperatures and seasons. But from what he had learned of Skyrim, the far north was always frozen.

He ate the food he had left out then picked up the two scrolls. Untying the one with the green ribbon, he glanced over it then read it aloud.

There was a pop and a furry backpack appeared. Attached to it was a walking stick, an axe, a bedroll, and a waterskin. Inside he found a small note listing everything and letting him know that the bag was enchanted to vastly help with carry weight.

His Master had suggested he use the bag for everything that he would need constantly as it would be less conspicuous to bring it from one of the enchanted bags that  were common, than to pull it from his small pouch.

If he wanted anything from inside the bag, he was to think of the item and reach in, it would be there. Yet another journal was magically tied to the bag and would record anything he put in or took out of the bag. He opened the pack back up and thought about the bag's journal and suddenly a small notebook appeared. This one was green and brown with a tree printed on the cloth covering the thin wood covers of the book.

He pulled out the cloak that was listed in there. Then removed one of the many small pouches of coins he had found locked in his Master's desk, tying it to the belt at his waist and tucked the scroll for the Arch Mage inside the bag.

He took one last look around the now bare cabin before stepping out the door and into the dawn.

He turned in the direction of the closest town and started walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the Elder Scrolls games Creation Magic does not exist, but the thought of using magic to create magical items from nothing ( not talking conjuration for weapons etc ) and making them a permanent item has always intrigued me. This form doesn't create weapons or food, casters can't create a banquet table or fountains of water or wine. In my thoughts it was something that would be used for creating works of art, sculptures made of magic, small figurines or animated "creatures" of light and color.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter has been proofread by Kate_Shepard.
> 
> Thanks to those that have read the story and left me kudos, they are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

 

He really, really hated the cold and the rain, but especially the cold.

It had started to rain after he had stopped to eat lunch and continued to rain for two days. He had thought about staying inside the pocket bag for a few days to properly dry off but he also didn't want to put off getting to the town any longer than he needed to. When the rain stopped that night he hid in a thicket and entered the bag.

He was finally warm again and dry. He made a decent hot meal and slept for a few hours until it was morning. He unloaded his apothecary bag of the ingredients he had run across and placed some bread, cheese, and apples in the travel bag. He also decided to add a dry, warm cloak and a fresh set of clothes.

The sphere had collected the basket of wet things from the bathroom almost immediately after putting them in there and took them outside. That morning he found them folded in a different basket in his bedroom.

Now he approached the town of Falkreath and hoped that he could still catch the carriage to Winterhold.

There was a man lounging against the large travel carriage eating and a small group of people off to the side with varying items. "Morning, stranger. What can I do for ya?" the gruff man warily asked.

"This khajiit was hoping that he had not missed the carriage going to Winterhold."

"Hmm. Well, this carriage can take you as far as Whiterun. From there you can catch a carriage going to Winterhold or, if you miss that one, take the one to Windhelm. They have one that runs fairly often to Winterhold. Worst case you would need to walk from Windhelm, follow the road west, then turn north at the crossroads to reach the hold."

"How much is the passage to Whiterun?"

"Twenty septims. When you're ready just climb on the back and we can be off." The man brushed the crumbs from his shirt as Vashlani handed him the required amount then climbed up to the back of the carriage and securely held onto his travel bag. He made sure to tuck his precious pocket bag into the inside of his robes before he drew his cloak about him.

When he had reached Whiterun he noticed a khajiit caravan set up outside of the walls of the town. He headed there to see what they might have for sale and for some news.

After their greetings he looked at their wares laid out on the rug in front of the trader and kept an eye on them even though they were also khajiit. He purchased a set of warm clothing and another, much heavier, fur cloak with a hood. The female that was scraping hides took the clothing and started to alter it for him to allow for his tail.

The news they shared as he waited wasn't good. Dragons had been spotted and earlier that week one had destroyed Helgen, a town to the South-East of Whiterun. The rumors of the war said that the Imperials had capture Ulfric Stormcloak, but he had escaped just as the dragon attacked. He thanked them for the news and items then headed toward the carriage. He didn't want to stay here too long. He wanted nothing to do with dragons and Nord wars. He just wanted to get to the College.

It took over a fortnight to make it to the town of Winterhold. The carriage had been stopped several times by the Imperials and the Stormcloaks. The weather had become worse as they had moved further north. A blizzard struck as they were on the road after turning east. The driver had yelled they were close to Nightgate Inn and would stop there until the weather cleared enough for the carriage to get through.

He really hated the cold.

Two days later they were able to start the journey again.

When he stiffly climbed down from the back of the carriage his eyes took in the ruins of the town. This was Winterhold? Where the great College was?  It was nothing like the painting.

He looked around and finally saw the large towering structure at the far end of town. He pulled his heavy cloak closer and headed in that direction, only to be stopped after climbing the first ramp that lead to the bridge connecting the town to the island where the College was.

"There is nothing for you here, khajiit. This place isn't open for tours. Only for mages. Go back to town and to your caravan," the golden skinned elf said to him in a bored voice, making a dismissive gesture to him.

"Vashlani is here to see the Arch Mage. I am here to join the College," he said to her as he tried to move to the side to go around.

"Not so fast, cat."

Vashlani let out a very low growl and turned back toward her.

"You have to prove that you are a mage. Just why are you here? What school of magic do you think to study here?" She leaned against the frozen stone archway.

"This khajiit can heal and summon."

"Hmph. Alright then. Let's see it." She gave a yawn and his eyes narrowed. His Master had told him that magic was not to be used for bragging or showing off but only for beneficial purposes or protection. This elf started to make him angry.

Before she could lower her hand from her mouth he had summoned a flame atronach that had her backed against the frozen wall of the arch and a healing hands spell on her. "Vashlani doesn't wish to further waste his magic on you." The elf quickly told him to proceed up the ramp; the College was at the end of it. He waved his hand and banished the atronach as he walked up the ramp.

When Vashlani made it to the top of the ramp he stood in awe for several minutes looking at the tall tower in front of him. Then he walked toward the large set of double doors, only to be stopped once again. This was much different than the last time. He was welcomed, shown where the apprentice quarters were, and informed there were almost always instructional classes being held in the Hall. When he asked about the Arch Mage he was told to just look around the main building because Arch Mage Aren should be around there somewhere; if not, he would probably be in his quarters and to just follow the small written directions on the wall plates.

After the other one left, he looked around his small quarters. There were no doors, no privacy and no secure storage. He frowned and after making sure there was no one close enough to see what he was doing, he took off his pack and removed the scroll from inside, then stuck the pack into his pocket bag. He picked up the scroll and headed back outside and across the plaza to the Hall that was pointed out to him. Time to find the head of the College and start his learning.

 

* * *

 

He had just walked through the first set of double doors when a man's voice called out to him, "Hello, I don't recognize you. Are you a new apprentice?"

Vashlani turned toward the voice and saw a dunmer approaching him. His robes were very different from any others that he had seen since coming here. Could this be the Arch Mage?

"This khajiit is known as Vashlani. I just arrived and am searching for the Arch Mage. I have a scroll to deliver to him from my previous Master."

"Ahh, well you've found him. I am Arch Mage Savos Aren," the man said to him while looking him over. Vashlani reached into an inner pocket of robe and brought out the yellow ribboned scroll.

The mage frowned as he noticed the seal. "You said this is from your former Master? Where is he?"

"He had found eternal rest just over a fortnight ago. Vashlani is here at his bidding, to further his studies."

The mage removed the ribbon and broke the seal, quickly scanning the document. After he was done, he rolled the scroll back up and tucked it into a pouch at his side.

"Thank you for bringing this to me. Your Master was one of my best friends when we were children studying at the College together. I had not heard from him in years. Go and see Tolfdir. He is one of the instructors here and can teach you. There are several others that he can point you to for your specializations. We are open to all magics as long as they do not harm another student or in any way harmful to the school itself. I hope you enjoy your time of learning here."

Vashlani tilted his head and looked at the back of the dark elf as he headed for a doorway. If his Master was a student here at the same time that the Arch Mage was ... just how old had his Master been? He was a human, not an elf ... there shouldn't have been a way for them to be students together when the elf was young.

 

* * *

 

The past several months had been both grueling and rewarding. He had improved the spells he had and learned a few more. He had been shocked to find so many spells he had never heard of with notations of them being from as far back as the First Era contained in the tomes that were in the chest. Many of them were for magics that he had no talent for, but just reading the notes and the history of the spells inside the tomes filled him with awe.

He fell to his knees when he opened a large tome that seemed to be ancient. His eyes watered when he found it to be a copy of the lost Creation spells. His hand had caressed over the leather covering; the barely visible embossing on the cover reminded him of an intricate magical circle. These he was determined to learn, these would not be forgotten or lost again. He purchased several blank tomes and began to copy the book, word for word, symbol and drawings exactly as they were from the original. One day when he had grown in strength to have mastered them, they would be done and the copies delivered to the Arcanum. Vashlani would keep the originals safe.

He was very careful to not let anyone see the spells he was learning from the tomes in the pocket bag, often going down into Winterhold and into one of the ruined buildings before entering his bag.

The innkeeper had sold him two chickens. He’d thought the khajiit was going to use them for some dark magics and at first refused until he told him that he was keeping them for the eggs and feathers that were dropped for use in enchantments and potions.

He paid a courier an exorbitant fee in Septims and potions to bring him two healthy female goats. When the courier had showed up at the College, the bleating of goats drew some unwanted attention and he dragged them around the corner and to the small stables that were kept for the College animals then quickly got them into the bag.

He made a few friends. Of course it was hard to tell if they were friends or not, as they had all asked him to let them test out their spells on him.

Another khajiit handed him some scrolls and told him they were powerful spells to use against the undead but needed him to test them out to see if they would work for him as well. So Vashlani went down into the Midden and tested the scrolls. He almost killed himself because instead of just destroying the skeletons they set him on fire with the resulting explosion. He stomped back into the apprentice quarters with his fur singed and his robes with burn holes in them.

Then a young female Dunmer had approached him and had asked him to help her practice. She had a spell that she wanted to try on him; nothing dangerous, she assured him. He was hesitant but let her do it. He tensed as she gathered the magic in her hand and sent it at him. He blinked and cried out, "What have you done to Vashlani's eyes! All he sees is green!"

"Oh no,  I am so, so sorry. It will wear off, I promise."

A few hours later she came back to check on him. He assured her his eyesight had returned to normal. "I can do it right this time. I know what I did wrong before and I am sure it will work this time." Her big red eyes blinked at him and he slumped in his chair then stood up as he agreed to let her try it once again.

When she cast it, he seemed to shrink. He started to ask her if that was supposed to be the result and all he heard was the bleating of a goat.

"Oh no... oh no. Hold on, Vashlani. I can fix this." She cast it again and this time he seemed to grow and felt really heavy. He opened his mouth and out came a loud "mooooo".

"No...no, that's not supposed to happen!" She started to cry and cast it again.

Finally he felt like his old self and held out his hands. His fur was the right color and his clothing was all intact. He patted his ears and his face, looked back over his shoulder to make sure his tail was there. "I am so sorry. I don't understand what went wrong. I'm just not cut out for that line of magic." He let out a sigh as he watched her run back to her room. He went into his room and surreptitiously checked to make sure his bag was still there and working. He’d go see her later that night and make sure she was alright.

Another month had gone by when one morning yet another of the apprentices came running his way. "Vashlani, guess what I found! A spell to create a pocket dimension. It was in this dusty old tome that must have fallen from a bookshelf and was kicked under it. Do you know what this means? It would give me unlimited access to storage and if I can find a way to contain it I could turn it into my own home. I can take it wherever I wanted. I wouldn't have to worry about freezing to death in the blasted cold of Skyrim or spend my hard earned Septims for a flea ridden bed at an inn."

Vashlani began to tell him that the spell was too complicated for apprentices such as they were, when suddenly the Breton started to chant the spell, only it sounded a lot different than the one he had found in a journal that was locked in the case and had enough warnings scribbled on the first page of the small book that he knew not to attempt it. It was why his Master had locked it in the case. Then he realized that the boy wasn't saying them properly; the inflections were wrong.

"Astius, stop reading! You're saying..." He felt an awful, painful sensation in his abdomen, like a hook in his skin, yanking at him, tearing into him, and he felt so cold.

Then he was surrounded by bright light and the sensation of falling. He landed hard against some surface that felt like stone or maybe metal. "Oof... what did that stupid Astius do to me?"

That's when the horrible noise started, a loud piercing shriek. He heard the running of heavy booted feet and tried to open his eyes. His vision was blurry, his poor ears were hurting from the sound and his tail felt broken from where he landed on it. "Ohh... Vashlani doesn't feel very good. What is that horrible noise?  Please tell me this khajiit wasn’t sent to Oblivion."

He heard a female's voice calling out to shut off the alarm and then blessed silence. He tried once again to bring his sight into focus. Finally he was able to do so. What he saw was like nothing he had ever heard of. So many men surrounding him with things pointed at him. He almost cast a banish spell when he noticed a giant bird like creature also pointing something at him.

"I am Commander Shepard and you have made a serious mistake in attempting an unauthorized boarding of a Systems Alliance Military Starship. State your name and species." The voice came from a red haired woman staring down at him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original posting of this chapter has not been proofread by another. It may change at a later date.
> 
> I have done my best to edit it for grammar, punctuation and spelling. Please excuse any mistakes that I have made.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

 

 

"This khajiit doesn't think he is in Skyrim anymore," Vashlani muttered as he kept looking around.

"I will only ask you this one more time. Who and what are you?" He saw the red haired woman raise the strange thing she was holding and he watched as the others did the same thing. He thought it would be a good idea to answer.

"Vashlani is a khajiit; we call Elsweyr our homeland. I was in Skyrim at the College and an idiot Breton messed up an incantation. It was too powerful for apprentices, but it was too late, I couldn't stop him. Then I ended up here; wherever here is."

"Shepard? Uh... I haven't seen anything like him before. A life form this advanced to wear clothing and speak of schools and power would have at least been known by the Council. They even contacted the Raloi when they had launched their first comm sat. This guy just drops out of nowhere in the middle of space. The Council has to know about this."

Vashlani stared in wonder at the grey bird or maybe it was a bug? What was he talking about? What Council? What is a Raloi? What is a comm sat? Where in the twin moons was he?

Another human woman, this one with grey hair, came over and stood beside the red haired one. "Shepard, we need to get this ... person into quarantine now. You can question him once I determine he is not a biological threat to any of us."

"Alright, Doc. You ...uh...cat person. Get up."

"Kha - jEEt ... not cat person, if you please," Vashlani said to the red haired woman as he stood up and brushed off his robes. He carefully patted around to make sure his bag was still there.

"He appears unarmed, Shepard. How the hell did he get onboard without the VI registering it until he just showed up in the middle of dinner?"

"I don't know, Garrus, but he better have answers. Joker, run diagnostics on the VI. See if it somehow has been tampered with." Her attention went back to the strange creature in front of her. "You, follow the Doc. Now. Don't think I won't shoot you if you try anything."

"This way. I'm sorry I didn't hear your name," the white haired woman said to him.

"Vashlani. Where am I? Who are you? Where are you taking me?"

"I am Doctor Chakwas, a medic on board this ship. We need to isolate you away from the others here until I can determine that you pose no health risks to us, or us to you." She led him to the med bay. When the door opened on its own he backed up to the wall with a frightened look on his face. He may be a curious khajiit but he didn't know what kind of magic was being used here and it scared him.

"This khajiit wants to go home. Even to frozen Skyrim. That he knows. This he doesn't."

"It's alright, follow me. I am a doctor, a medic." When he didn't move, only blinked at her she thought for a moment of all the other terms for her profession. "I'm a healer of my people."

That seemed to relax him slightly and his eyes focused solely on her. "A healer? Vashlani heals his people also."

She gave him a smile and walked through the door to wait for him on the other side.

He flicked his ears and tail then edged his way toward the opening. He was very aware of the woman following him. The soft voice of the healer assured him he wouldn't be hurt. He jumped and almost fell over a chair when the doors closed behind him. His hands glowed for a brief second as he readied his spells. Just as quickly stopped when he realized what happened.

The doctor was standing there looking at him and down at his hands, before she cleared her throat and told him to sit on the table. She had a lot to explain to him before they began and she needed answers to her questions.

The scan had finished and she turned from him to pick up a sterile tube to place inside of the machine so she could withdraw his blood. She dropped it causing it to shatter when it hit the floor. "You would think after all this time, we could make a shatterproof container for this system. Ouch!" She had started to pick up the broken pieces when one cut her, causing her hand to start bleeding badly. She stood up and reached for the medigel dispenser when she felt a tingly warmth on her hand. She looked down and saw the cut start to glow then close; not a trace of a scar was left.

She turned to see the same glow around his hand. "Vashlani is a healer too, remember."

 

* * *

 

"Well doc. What is he? Is he a threat to our health?" Shepard asked her after she came out of the med bay. She had stationed several guards in front of the door after Chakwas yelled to get the one that she had sent in there out, that he wasn't needed and was invading her patient's right to privacy.

"As far as what he is, I have no idea. We can only take his word that his people are known as khajiit and they come from an arid land. There are no records of any such people in the database. He is remarkably healthy and by that I mean no signs of disease past or present, no scars, no damage to his body. Well, other than what looked like a few singe marks on his fur. He told me another khajiit had him testing something that exploded and caught him on fire, but there were no scars."

"As far as if he is a health danger, I would say no. I ran a full scan on him, after spending almost thirty minutes explaining the machine to him, and can find nothing that would pose a risk to anyone. Human or Alien. His digestive processes are a bit different than ours. His reproductive system is the same however, and it seems it may even be slightly compatible to a humans. He is levo protein based, same as we are, although with his digestive properties he may even be able to benefit from dextro foods."

She chuckled and said, "He is so curious about everything once he relaxes and comes to trust a bit. He asked me so many questions about how I heal people." She grew quiet as she knew she had to inform Shepard of what had happened. She just hoped she could talk her Commander into not giving him to the Council, Gods only know what they would do when the found out about his healing ability.

"There is something I need to discuss with you, Commander. As far as I can tell, Vashlani has abilities that I have never heard of before. When I was in there, I cut myself; badly. He healed me, Shepard. He was sitting on the table and I was at the medigel dispenser. He healed me from across the room." She held out her hand showing Shepard her palm, there wasn't a mark left.

She looked into the Doctor's eyes. "That can't be. The Council ... the things that could be learned from him. We have to get him to the Citadel."

"Shepard, wait. You know they will want to take him and study him. You know what they would do to him. He isn't some animal to be used for vivisection or as a test subject. He is alone and from what I can tell, cut off from his people with no way to get home. If the military should get a hold of him," the doctor shook her head. "You know as well as I do, that people and things have a way of just disappearing. You know the Council will deny his existence, as will the Alliance if you should turn him over to them. That poor man would never see the light of day again, if he survived their tests."

"So what do you want me to do, Doc? Hide him? He could help further Humanity if that healing could be taught to others."

"We don't even know if it could be taught. Maybe it is something just his people can do. What then Shepard? You turn that poor creature over to them, have him go through the trauma, that they no doubt will inflict upon him to get the healing secrets, only to find out it is something born to his kind and not something learned. What do you think they would do then? You know what they did to the biotic humans when they were first discovered. Can you imagine what would happen to this one single being?"

"Damn it, Doc." Shepard stood up and paced while she thought it over.

"At least talk to him, Shepard. Maybe if we just talked to him and asked him questions of our own we would learn more, then decide what to do."

 

* * *

 

Vashlani was sitting in a small room across the table from the healer and the one they called Shepard.

"Alright, Doc here tells me that she can't find any health issues concerning you, so that's good news. Bad news is since we know nothing about you, we may have to turn you over to our leaders to figure out what to do with you."

"Vashlani doesn't understand? He is just a simple khajiit that was going to the College of Winterhold to improve and learn. He has no idea how he got here, where here is or anything else. This khajiit justs want to go home."

"Here happens to be the SSV Normandy SR-1. A joint Systems Alliance and Turian Hierarchy military starship. We are currently on the way to investigate an uncharted planet."

"Please excuse me. You said starship? What is a starship? Is it a new type of boat? What do you mean by planet? Who are these people you speak of?" His ears were flicking and his eyes were shining bright with unmatched curiosity.

Shepard let out a laugh, "You weren't kidding Doc, when you said he was a curious one." Shepard tapped a hand on the table. "Alright, Vashlani, how about we trade some information. You answer a few questions of mine and I'll answer some of yours. Deal?"

Vashlani looked at the red haired woman. "Vashlani agrees."

"Alright, let me see if I can answer yours first then, as a show of good faith, shall we say." She shifted around, "This vessel you are on is a starship. The Systems Alliance is the military group for Earth, where we humans come from. The Turian Hierarchy is the government where the turians, like Garrus, are from. Both of them worked together to build this ship. It is not a boat. It does not just float on water. Planets are large celestial bodies, many are inhabited by various races of people. While others due to their chemical and atmospheric makeup are not. With me so far?"

"No. The military part I do, somewhat. Each one of Tamriel's races has their own fighters, this is like what you are saying, yes?" When he saw the woman nod he continued. "Vashlani still does not understand about the planets. And why call this a ship if it doesn't float on water?"

Shepard tapped her fingers on the tabletop again. "Your people don't have spaceships?"

"No. Unless they are called by a different name? Vashlani does not know."

"Let me get this straight. Your people don't travel the star systems? Then how did you get here?"

"Star ...systems? This khajiit is confused. Stars are in the sky. Like the sun and our moons, Massar and Secunda."

Shepard stared at the furry male across from her ... _oh boy_.

"Commander, maybe it would just be better to show him? I think it will be safe enough. I don't think he means any harm to us."

"Hmm. Maybe, but just in case we'll take guards. Listen well, Vashlani, try to do anything to hurt anyone on board and we will terminate you. I don't care if you are the only one of your kind I've ever seen."

They took him to one of the observation decks. The rooms were always kept shuttered unless there was someone in there. This one had been cleared as a precaution. "Alright, Vashlani. You are about to see why this is called a starship." Shepard hit the large button and the outside shutters started to raise.

He was frozen in place at what he was seeing. They were surrounded by the stars. They were flying in the sky up where the stars were. "This khajiit just urinated on himself. Vashlani is sorry for the mess." He then fell backward in a dead faint.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10/3/16
> 
> This chapter has been updated to included fixes to grammar, punctuation, spelling and overall readability. There has been an improvement in consistency of the story as well. Thanks to Kate_Shepard for proofreading and beta-reading for this chapter.

* * *

 

When he awoke he was in the medical bay, that was the name of the room the healer had said, and looked around in fright. He was certainly not in Skyrim anymore and  from what he could tell from the minute or so he took looking out the window, he wasn't on Nirn either. He started to panic when he noticed his robes were gone along with his precious pocket bag.

"Easy, Vashlani. I'm glad to see you are finally awake." Chakwas said to him as she swiveled in her chair.

"Please, Healer. My robes, my pouch. Where are they? Vashlani needs his pouch, it is precious to me."

"Your pouch is right here, Vashlani. I removed it when I undressed you so your clothing could be cleaned and your head attended to." She stood up and carried what she thought was just an empty bag to him and saw his eyes glued to the pouch in her hand.

He clutched the bag to his chest and felt around the back of his head, frowning a bit when he felt the bump. His hand glowed slightly and the bump disappeared as did the pain. His fur started to regrow where the healer had removed it to use that salve on it.

"Vashlani? How do you do that?" Chakwas leaned over and watched in fascination as the fur kept growing until it was just a bit shorter than the fur around it.

"I know the healing arts, some of them anyway. There are others that know more, others that know less."

"Is that something that can be learned by anyone?" She pulled a chair over and sat down next to him to put him at ease. She hoped to get the information they needed so Shepard could make a better decision on what to do. She really hoped the Commander didn't push giving him over to the Alliance or Council, she liked the khajiit and knew if they got their hands on him, there was a good chance he wouldn't live for long. Or be seen by anyone again if he did.

"Hmm. My Master told me that the arts can be taught to anyone with the innate ability given to them by the Divines at birth. Not everyone can do them. Some must rely on potions and others." Vashlani held the bag tightly in his hand. His need to get somewhere safe to make sure the bag still worked and these men hadn't done anything to it was making him twitchy.

Shepard and Garrus walked into the room, Vashlani stared at the turian, his eyes wide and his whiskers twitched as did his ears. "Vashlani, this is Garrus. He is a turian and a member of the crew. We thought it would be best to start introducing you to the other races a bit at a time so as not to shock you as badly as we seemed to have done earlier. I apologize for that by the way. Didn't think you would have that type of reaction," Shepard said to him as they stood by the medical bed.

Vashlani gripped his bag and raised the blanket so his lean body was covered a bit more. "Vashlani would like to ask you to return his clothes, please."

"They should be finished soon. The guys had a problem with getting the machine to register the type of fabric it was made from so that it would come out clean and not damaged. I think they finally just ended up dumping it into a large pot of regular water."

Vashlani's ears rotated. "Cleaning wasn't necessary. I could have taken care of it. Please, I just want my robes and to go home."

"Yeaaah, about that. We don't know what planet you're from," Garrus said to him while looking over the strange creature. "We have no record of any moons named Massar or Secunda."

"Garrus, Vashlani doesn't have a translator chip or an omni tool. He won't be able to understand you," Chakwas said as she turned in her chair.

"What do you mean you don't know what planet? This khajiit guesses it would be called Nirn, as that is what the tomes call the world on which we all reside. Maybe you refer to it as Mundus? As that is what the tomes said was created to encompass Nirn, and the moons, Massar and Secunda. The texts say everything floats in the Void." Everyone stared at him and he started to wonder if he had said something wrong.

"You can ... understand him?" Shepard asked, with a note of incredulity in her voice. Vashlani nodded. "Garrus?"

"I understood him as well. It was almost like the standard turian language. Somewhat flat though, but... what the hell is going on here?"

"Vashlani has been speaking Tamrielic, known to every race throughout Tamriel in order to communicate. My native language is called Ta`agra or Khajiiti."

"We thought you were speaking a common language from Earth. That was why the Doc and I could understand you." Both of the women looked at each other then at him. He only shrugged and looked at all of them.

"Alright, what I can do is have Joker pull up each system and look for worlds with two moons. But if we haven't heard about it before, it's probably uncharted and without something to go by to help find it, I don't know how we are going to get you home." Garrus made a note in his omni tool with the new information he had received.

"What will you do with Vashlani? If you can't find his home?" He started to pluck at the covering over his chest as he clutched the small bag tighter in his fist.

Chakwas looked at Shepard. They both turned when one of the crewmen came in carrying Vashlani’s robe. "Shepard, can I speak to you outside? We can give Vashlani a moment of privacy so he can get dressed."

As soon as the door shut behind them, Vashlani crouched down under the gurney and opened his bag. "My ring, please let it be here." He pulled it out and let out a slight purr, slid it on, and entered his bag. Knowing he didn't have much time, he threw on his clothes and ran through his house making sure everything was there and working and then popped back out just in time to hear the door open again.

"Shepard, listen. I asked him about his ability. He pretty much said only those that had an innate ability could learn it. It is not something that everyone can do. And since no one has ever heard of anyone being able to do this..." Chakwas' voice faded off as she stared at the Commander.

Shepard looked down at her feet and crossed her arms, "You think that only those from his planet will have the ability."

"Yes. You know what is going to happen to him if you turn him over to the Council or the Alliance. Maybe he can be of use here, help me in the med lab. He is a natural healer. His ability far outweighs what the current medigel can do. Hell, Shepard, he reached back and got rid of the bump on his head, the scar, and started to regrow his fur at just a moment's touch."

"Doc, honestly, I'm not so sure about this. He could be a danger to us," Garrus mumbled. "This whole language thing doesn't feel right to me."

"Maybe that is just because none of us have ever met someone like him, Garrus." Chakwas looked at them both, "This may be the only time we can learn from him. We just have to be careful that everyone on board knows to keep his existence classified. He will be in great danger otherwise."

"Okay, Doc, you win. I can understand what you're saying." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Joker, wipe every scrap of data, video and voice footage about Vashlani from the data banks. Monitor comms, make sure no intel is leaked about our newest crew member. Then set up a ship-wide comm."

"It's all yours, Commander."

" Attention, all crew. As some of you may be aware, we have a new crewmember on board. His existence and presence are classified by Spectre authority and that includes the Alliance until I say otherwise. Shepard out."

She cut the connection. "Alright, guess we need to figure out where to put him. Then go over everything with him so he understands. In the meantime Garrus, re-run those names through the database with the new information he gave you. Come on Doc, let's go give our newest member the news."

When they walked through the door they didn't see him at first. "Vashlani?" 

He stuck his arm out from under the gurney.  "Down here." His voice came from near the floor and they moved around to the other side of the screen.

"What the hell are you doing under the table?" Shepard asked as she bent over to see him.

"I had to put on my robe?"

Shepard cocked her eyebrow at him and he blinked at her. "Come on out, we need to talk."

 

* * *

  
  


"Alright, this is small I know. But it's what we have available at the moment. There was a cot brought in to sleep on and we'll try and figure out what to do for your clothing. You can't wear that robe all the time," Shepard said to Vashlani as they stood inside the small storage room that had been cleared out for his use.

Vashlani's whiskers twitched as did his tail. He had plenty of clothes and things but he wasn't ready to trust them quite yet. He also needed to check his tomes; maybe there was something in there that would get him back home. "This is Vashlani's room? No one will bother me in here?"

"No. Before I go, I will show you how to lock the door so you won't be disturbed. But the Doc and I can both override it in case of emergency and enter. We'll try and get you better quarters as soon as we can. It may take some time, though, because we have to figure out how to get it done without letting anyone else know exactly why."

"You are hiding this khajiit to help keep him safe?"

Shepard nodded at his question.

"Okay, thank you, Shepard."

He waited a few minutes after she left before following her directions and locking the door. "Now what did she say? VI, lights off." The room went dark. "Ahh, good." He looked up and blinked when he saw a tiny red light. "Hmm. Vashlani wonders what that is?"

 

* * *

  
  


"Uh, Commander. He spotted the camera already. His eyes are glowing, spookily, just like cats do when a light hits them and he’s staring up at the camera,” Joker said.

"Shepard! You did not have a camera installed in his room! That is where the man is going to be sleeping and changing his clothing. You know the regulations against that," Chakwas said.

Chakwas was upset. She had been in the middle of setting up an anonymous file for Vashlani and needed Shepard to input her override code when Joker's voice came through the med bay speakers.

"It was just a precaution." She sighed, knowing Chakwas was right. She would be really pissed if someone installed cameras in her own room. "Joker shut it down."

"Aye, Commander."

Vashlani tipped his head to the side when the light blinked off. Minutes later he disappeared.

“Alright, Doc. No cameras but until I know for sure he’s not a danger to us he’s going to be under guard. I’ll have guards posted outside of his room and at least one will always be with him.” Shepard said to Chakwas before she sent a comm to two of the Marines to report for guard duty.

 

* * *

 

He took a shower and changed his robe, then headed for the study. He pulled several tomes down from the chest that he thought would be useful and added a few books just to read if he got bored. He packed those into his furry travel bag along with more clothing and food. He didn't know what they ate and wanted to make sure he had something. A few potions were also added.

He made sure his staff was secured inside his travel bag, then tucked everything that was usually on the outside of the bag on the inside. He didn't want them to think he was bringing a weapon if they saw the axe. He checked the list to make sure everything was being accounted for and he hadn’t left anything out. 

He went outside and made sure his animals were alright and he saw the sphere busily washing his robe and towels. He grabbed a few apples from the orchard in back of the greenhouse then removed the ring.

He sat on the cot and let out a groan. He had a perfectly soft, inviting bed in his home and instead of sleeping in it, he was stuck sleeping on this cot. Unless he could be sure that no one would sneak in... He raised his left hand, gave it a wave, and a glowing purple ball floated above his head. He opened his travel bag, took out a hunk of cheese, and began to eat while reading the first tome.

There was a chime sound and Vashlani looked up from the tome. The chime sounded again and this time a voice came from nowhere and told him that Commander Shepard was requesting entrance.

"Oh. Vashlani needs a moment." He put the book into the bag and shoved it under the cot. He hoped that it wouldn't be seen then he flicked his hand at the glowing ball to put it out and went to open the door.

"VI, lights on. Vashlani, I found a few ... wasn't that robe blue before?" Shepard asked as she stood inside the small room with a stack of something that looked like clothing in her hands.

He only blinked at her.

"I must be tired or something. Anyway, I gathered up a few things you can wear if you want, I uh had the servicemen in the laundry area make a hole for your tail. Also the men's bathroom is across the hall." She put the clothing on the cot and stopped.

"What is that smell?"

"Oh, sorry, Vashlani didn't mean to be rude." His ears rotated and his tail swayed. He didn't think she would notice the pungent smell of the eidar cheese he had eaten earlier.

"Huh... no worries. It's a natural thing. Anyway, dinner is in the mess. Do you remember where that is?" At his nod she continued. "Alright. Doc asked that you join her there so she can monitor you for any reaction to our food. She'll send you a message when to meet her."

She pulled out a flat object and placed it on his cot. "This is called a data pad. You have access to the crew's message server and data bank."

She sat on the cot and patted it. He eased down beside her and watched as she showed him how to access it and they set up a username and password for him. "This will let you send and receive notices and messages. For instance, say you wanted to ask the Doc a question. Instead of having to wander around the ship trying to find her, you can just send her an email. Like this."

She used his account and sent Chakwas a message:

 

To: SaWBones@Normandy.net

From: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

 

This is Shepard, showing Vashlani how to use the system. He agreed to meet up with you for dinner. Send him a message on here since he has no omni tool.

 

*Send*

 

"Okay, after you tap send, you wait for a response. Sometimes it can come right away, other times they may be busy and it will take a while." She watched Vashlani's eyes grow wider and his ears flick. She could swear she heard a slight purr. When the pad let out a ping noise, he jumped a bit.

"That means you have a new message and you tap this icon here."

 

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

From: SaWBones@Normandy.net

 

Nice screen name :)

 

I will send you a message in a while, Vashlani. In the meantime, if you need me for anything just send me a message. Hope you can get used to the different things we have and come to enjoy your time with us.

 

~*~

 

"And that is about it for using the messaging here on the Normandy. When I need to contact you, this is how I will do it. Don’t leave this lying around. Keep it with you.”

She saw him nod as his eyes moved over the device.

“The next thing I would like to show is something we call vid and holos. Holos are taken with a camera. It sort of paints an image of what it sees so you can look at it anytime on here." She tapped on the camera icon then held it up to get his face in the screen then said, "Bright flash is coming, try not to close your eyes." She pushed the button and he blinked.

She showed him the folder marked holos, then clicked on it and then the only icon that was inside. His likeness popped up with his eyes closed and a grimace on his face. "Aww, you blinked."

She held the pad out as far as she could and clicked the camera button again. He watched as she clicked a different icon and her face showed up on the screen. She smiled and pushed a button and then showed him her own holo which was now in the folder. "That's called a selfie." Then she squeezed up tighter to him and stuck her head next to his, "Say cheese!" Once she was done she showed him how to rename the files so they made sense.

"Now, like I said, I have also given you permission to view the crew's databank. There are music files, books, and vids there that you can watch. I do, however, strongly suggest that you do not access the folder marked Joker."

She didn't see the way his ears twitched or his eyes lit up. Once she showed him how to connect in and what each type of file meant, she got up to leave. As soon as the door was closed, he picked up the datapad. His curiosity got the better of him and he tapped on the thing marked, "Joker".

He went running through the hallway, heading for the med bay with the datapad pressed against his chest, trying to muffle the sounds coming from it. He burst through the doorway when the female on the datapad screamed out, "More, yes, harder!"

"Healer, help Vashlani! He was told not to do it, but he had to know! And this came up and he doesn't know what to do to stop it!" He was practically screaming to cover the noise that was coming from the pad.

Chakwas started laughing, "I see you found Joker's folder. Here let me see the pad and I will show you how to stop the vid and get out of the folder."

When the noise stopped he let out a breath. "I won't do that again."

She let out a snort, "You don't have porn where you come from."

His ears perked at the new word.

"What was shown on the vid. You didn't have something like that?"

"No. No...vid. Also sexual acts were usually kept private, not for others to view. Although, at the College, there were no doors for the bedrooms, so sometimes it happened or others heard. But nothing like that."

"Well, it's best if you stay out of the folder. If ever there is something you grow curious about and click on and don't like,  just push on this button here. It will stop and then you click this arrow button here and it will bring you back to the folder menu."

"Thank you, Healer. Vashlani didn't mean to trouble you."

"It was no trouble, Vashlani. I will send you a message soon. I have a few things yet to finish up here."

Vashlani nodded and then said "say cheese" before snapping a holo of her.

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you are enjoying the story so far.
> 
> Thank you for the comments and kudos, they are appreciated.
> 
> Enjoy this new chapter.
> 
> Update: 10/4/16 Kate_Shepard proofread and beta'd this chapter to fix grammar, punctuation, spelling and errors with sentence structure. Hopefully, the chapter has greater readability and you can enjoy it more.

* * *

 

 

"Healer, what is that?" Vashlani pointed to what the mess attendant had dropped onto his plate.

 "That Vashlani seems to be dinner." She let out a sigh and tried not to grimace.

 "Why does it smell like a boiled shoe?"

 She let out a snort and then pushed him down the line when she saw the cook frown at him.

 They carried their trays to an empty table and sat. "Now, Vashlani, I don't know what reaction your body will have to the food we have here. According to the tests I ran on  your blood, you are like most lifeforms in the galaxy and based on what we call levo-amino proteins. Garrus is what is known as a dextro-based lifeform. It means that our food will not sustain them and it may cause some of them to become rather ill if they ate it, should they have a lower tolerance. It is the same with his food. We should not eat it.  Your digestive system is different  from a human's, though, and I can’t be certain which rules apply to you. So I need to observe and possibly run more tests on you so that we can be sure you won't have any adverse effects from eating this . . . food." She picked up a spoonful of dinner and dropped back on her plate.

 Vashlani stared down at the brown glob on his plate, and his stomach turned. "Healer, Vashlani cannot eat this. His stomach feels upset just by looking at it."

"Believe me, Vashlani, I understand. But you need to eat and this is what we have."

He thought  about the food in his bag and at his home. He  supposed he could eat a little of this and then take a potion. He could always make a meal after he was sure no one would bother him. He swallowed  and picked up his spoon.

 

* * *

 

"Ohh, this khajiit is dying," Vashlani moaned while clutching at his stomach a short time later. "Vashlani has been poisoned."

Chakwas frowned and drew some blood and turned on the scanner to check his stomach. He had all the classic signs of an upset stomach and severe cramping from it. "You're not dying, Vashlani, you just have a badly upset stomach." She gave him a dose of stomach aid--which she went through more than any other medication--and waited. Slowly his moans grew less and he seemed to be calming.

"Okay, Vashlani, I think it's okay for you to go back to your room now. If you start to feel sick again, send me a message and I will come to you."

Vashlani shuffled toward the door. "That man shouldn't be allowed near a cooking pot." When he finally made it back to his room and locked the door, the first thing he did was reach into his bag for the cure poison potion he had stuck in there.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, he got a message from Shepard. He was happy to know that the pad she gave him worked inside his home. Maybe it was because he had been in his room when he entered the bag?

 

From: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

This email is your wake-up call. Today some of my crew needs to go off the ship for a while. You will begin assisting the Doc. She will need to explain everything to you.

You skipped breakfast. I can't say I blame you after what the Doc told me happened at dinner. We'll try to figure something out. In the meantime, there are dry rations if you want them. They don't taste much different, though. I'm not sure but the cook may just be dumping a bunch of those into a pot and just adding water.

It's time for you to report for duty.

 

~*~

 He put on a fresh set of clothes, grabbed his pack, and left his cozy home.

 

* * *

 

"Alright, the first thing you need to know is that the medical records are private. We don't share any information except with the Commander when it is deemed necessary,such as yours to let her know you weren't a risk and the problem you had with our food. If your system can't adjust, she will have to intervene and try to find other options for you."

He thought about the breakfast of farm bread, eggs, and cheese he had this morning and knew he would be okay. He  would just have to come up with a reason that he wasn't starving to death.

She went on to tell him about some of the equipment but let him know that for a while, all he would be doing was observing and helping her to heal the worst of the injuries that came in. "Tell me more about what you can heal, Vashlani." She sat at her desk, her mouth drawing down in a frown because she was certain the robe he had on the day before had gone from blue to black and now to green.

"Wounds from weapons and animal attacks, broken bones . . . Um, some sicknesses and diseases, and certain types of poisons. This one can't heal a wound that would be fatal. This khajiit can do a bit with potions and salves."

"Potions?"

He nodded. "Yes. Mixtures that Master taught him. Herbals and tonics." He didn't want to tell her more than what was necessary; Vashlani liked the healer but from what they had said, other people may try to kidnap him to force him to give them knowledge. He wasn't a slave; he would not be compelled to do another's bidding.

She got the feeling there was more to this person than what he was saying. She understood; she would be hesitant to give strangers more information than what was necessary. She wouldn’t push for now. She brought up a patient's record. "Vashlani, I want you to meet someone special. Look him over and see if you can tell what is wrong. Let me know whether there is anything you can do to help him."

"Vashlani will try."

"Joker, can you come to med bay, please? I think it's time you meet the new crew member."

"Joker? The vid. Oh, my." His ears twitched and his tail swung, making Chakwas laugh.

Joker made his way into the bay about a half hour later. "Hey, Doc. Hey, uh. . ."

"This khajiit is known as Vashlani," he said to the man who had slowly limped his way into the room as his eyes roamed over him. He didn't smell any blood but the man seemed to be having problems with walking and pain.

"Yeah, Vash. Ok, Doc what was so important that I had to risk coming down here?" He carefully sat on the table that she had lowered for him. He noticed Vashlani frowning at him.

"Vashlani smells something. Not an injury." His ears twitched and he moved closer. The man hissed as he reached out to lay a hand on him. "This khajiit won't hurt you." He let out a purr that caused the man's eyes to grow large in his face.

A slight glow from his hand enveloped the man on the bed and his mouth drew down into a frown. "So many broken bones." The glow of his eyes dimmed and he looked down at Joker. "Vashlani does not understand."

"Joker has a genetic disorder we call Vrolik's Syndrome. It makes his bones brittle. Like glass, too much pressure or moving the wrong way can cause them to break. We have medicine that can help but not cure it." They saw his ears and tail twitch. "Can you help him?"

Vashlani scratched his head. Vrolik's was a condition he never heard of on Tamriel.  Maybe a cure disease potion? "Can you excuse Vashlani? Just one moment." He rushed out of the med bay and headed for his room. He pulled the travel bag out from under the cot and put it on. Vashlani swallowed because he wasn't sure if he could talk his way out of explaining where it had come from if questioned about it.

When he entered the medical bay a few minutes later, both of the humans looked at each other and then at the pack he drew off his back.

"Vashlani? Where did . . ." Chakwas started to say to him as she pointed to the bag that was now in his hands.

"Vashlani's travel bag. I had it with me all the time?" His ears twitched and he blinked several times. He sat it down and opened it; they saw him bring out a small green journal and read over it before he nodded. After putting it back, he reached inside and withdrew a phial that had a blue swirling liquid in it.

"Doc are you sure about this?" Joker asked, looking nervously between the bottle and Chakwas.

"Vashlani doesn't know  if it will work. It will not hurt you. If you want it, it is yours. Ahzirr Durrarriss. It means, 'We give freely to the People' in my native language. This khajiit gives this to you freely." He held out his hand with the bottle cradled in his palm.

"Doc?" Joker looked at Chakwas,  afraid that the stuff in the bottle wouldn't work and more afraid that it would.

"I'm right here, Jeff. I will keep an eye on you. He healed my hand; he's a healer, Jeff. A natural healer."

He tentatively reached for the bottle.

 

* * *

 

The doctor ran tests and took scans before giving the news to Joker. The potion hadn't cured him, but it did seem to alter the condition enough so that the bones strengthened a bit when Vashlani tried to heal him. He could walk with less pain now.

"I am sorry this khajiit couldn't fix it." His eyes were downcast as he talked with Joker.

"Nah, man. Don't worry about it. I feel less pain than I have in a long time." He reached up and patted Vashlani on the shoulder as best he could.

"Vashlani will see if he can find something else that might help."  

Chakwas laid a hand on his shoulder as Joker walked from the room. "You did more for him than the medicine I could give him did. He was still moving slowly, but his gait was smoother and he stood straighter. Thank you. Ready to learn more about my sort of healing?" Vashlani nodded as his eyes lit up.

She was telling him about the decon system when her stomach let out a growl and she looked at the time. It was past lunch. She sighed and grimaced. "Ready to go eat, Vashlani?"

"Do we have to?" He cringed thinking about what that horrible man may drop on his plate.

She laughed. "Yes or my stomach will keep making these noises."

His ears twitched then he looked at her. "Can Healer keep a secret?"

Chakwas wondered what else was going on. The clothes, the bag, and the potion had drawn her attention and her curiosity. "As long as it doesn't adversely affect the security of the ship and the people on it." She watched as he picked up his bag and looked around. He reached in and drew out a small sack. He opened it and Chakwas stared down at what was in it. "Vashlani? Is that a sandwich?"

"Yes. This was to be my midday meal. Vashlani took farm bread and spread it with butter made from fresh milk from his goats and some of his goat cheese. He added sliced rabbit haunch, fresh cabbage, and ripe tomato. I will share if you promise not to ask where it came from."

"Deal." Her mouth was watering just from the smell.

He gave a purr and reached into his bag to bring out a knife and divide the sandwich in half.  He handed her one part and then brought out a boiled creme treat and split it, too. "Vashlani only brought one of these. If you have a cup, he will share this as well." He pulled out a bottle and read the label. "Honningbrew Mead."

She ran a quick scan over all of it and then looked at the readout and smiled. "Thank you for sharing with me."

His eyes crinkled with his smile. "Vashlani likes Healer, thinks they can be friends."

 

* * *

 

"Doc, you got incoming." Joker's voice echoed in the small room and Vashlani moved out of Chakwas' way and watched her pushing buttons and moving beds. His whiskers twitched as the smell of blood hit him seconds before the door opened.

"Put them on the gurneys," Chakwas called out as she put a surgical cover over her uniform. Her eyes scanned the two people; Garrus and Shepard, as usual.

"Now what trouble did you two get into?" She pushed a few buttons then told Vashlani to help her remove their armor because she needed to see the extent of the damage and be ready to remove any debris in the wounds. He helped her after he watched what she was doing with the strange armor they were wearing. She turned toward the medical terminal to start the machine and gasped when she turned back as both of them swirled in a bright golden light. She looked at Vashlani and saw him staring at them, the light engulfing him as well and a huge ball of what she could only call energy formed between his hands.

She felt a brief tingle then watched as the light fade. Vashlani stumbled a bit. "Vashlani, are you alright?"

"Yes. Vashlani hadn't used that spell in a while. It drains his magicka in one large pull." He sat on the chair that Chakwas had pulled over for him and took several deep breaths. He needed to spend more time practicing his healing if that spell was still draining him that badly.

A moment later the two on the gurneys started to stir. They glanced around then watched as each other's wounds continued to close. "Shepard?" Garrus' mandibles flicked then his attention turned to the khajiit. "You?"

Several minutes later, they were both sitting up and Chakwas was telling them what she saw. She showed them the readouts of the scans after he’d healed them.

"Unbelievable," Garrus said as he looked over the scan again, having a hard time accepting what he saw.

"That's why it is important we guard him. What do you think would happen if anyone else found out what he could do? Governments would send in people to try to capture him to study or flat out assassinate him to keep him from working with an enemy," Chakwas told them.

Vashlani sat on a chair and hugged his travel bag. "Vashlani isn't completely helpless. He's not a Cub to be mothered."

"What do you mean, Vashlani? I thought you were a healer," Shepard said to him as she picked up her armor and dumped it on her recently vacated gurney.

"This khajiit knows . . . things. Vashlani is not just a healer, not a warrior either, but is a learned mage. He isn't a Master mage but is still learning and practicing. He has many years before he can call himself a Master."

"So you're saying you can fight too?" Garrus looked at the lean, fur-covered being in front of him, trying to gauge his strength.

His whiskers and ears twitched and his eyes wouldn't meet theirs. "Vashlani has said too much. Pay no attention to him."

Shepard stood in front of him. "What's wrong Vashlani?"

"Almost forgot Master's teachings. Our powers are not for bragging or showing off. We've been given these gifts to help others and to protect ourselves and those who need us during our time upon Tamriel."

Shepard sat on a stool and wheeled it over in front of him. "Vashlani, would you be willing to let us see what you can do? Not as bragging but to see if you will be able to help us when we go on missions. I know your healing would be most welcome. We usually end up shot all to hell during them and if you can help us by healing, that would be great. If you could help fight, that would be good, too, but we need to see if what you said is true; for your protection as well as ours."

He fiddled with the amulet that decorated his fur bag, which drew Shepard's attention and she looked up at Chakwas who only shrugged at her.

"Can Vashlani think about it overnight?"

"Of course. Just send me a message from your pad, alright?"

He nodded to her then stood up. "Vashlani will be in his room. Khajiit needs to think, so I will see you in the morning. Vashlani isn't hungry and doesn't want . . . dinner." Chakwas gave him a smirking grin, knowing that he, at least, would have something tasty to eat.

 

* * *

 

He stood in front of the alchemy table brewing up several more healing potions before searching through his Master's recipe books trying to find a more potent potion that might be able to help Joker. His thoughts turned to what was said earlier. He shouldn't have told them he could do more than heal but it was too late now.

"Maybe resist disease, then cure disease and fortify health?" Vashlani let out a sigh and closed his book; there was nothing in there that stated it was for weak bones.

He wandered through the giant greenhouse which didn't need tending to as the sphere did it for him, then walked out and sat in the gazebo. An hour later, he put a bowl, spoon, a hunk of bread, and a bottle of ale in a sack and then filled a small, clean milk can with hot apple cabbage stew. He watched as the sphere scribbled in the ledger then took off his ring.

"Healer . . . It's Vashlani. Wake up. This khajiit has something for you," he hissed when he saw her asleep on one of the gurneys. She woke immediately and asked if he was hurt. He let out a laughing purr; his eyes glowed in the dark and he held out the sack and can. "After you've eaten, please bring the items back to Vashlani's room."

She turned on the small lamp on her desk and opened the sack. When she opened the pail, the steam and scent of the stew filled the air in front of her; she let out a small laugh. "You're spoiling me Vashlani. This poor old woman hasn't had such wonderful tasting food in a long time." She didn't even bother asking where he got it.

 

* * *

 

He pulled several of his Master's tomes from inside the chest then sat down and refreshed himself on the spells that he had learned before he went down to the practice room to try more. Several hours later, he emailed Shepard.

To: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net

From: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

Vashlani agrees on one condition. Only the three that were in the room be present at first and everyone must listen to me to remain safe. Vashlani doesn't want anyone hurt.

~*~

A few moments later a message was received with her agreement. Vashlani pulled out a set of clothing, boots, and a slightly glowing short outer robe from his wardrobe then headed for the cellar.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is still enjoying the story. Thanks to Kate_Shepard for proofreading and improving this chapter.

* * *

 

 

When Vashlani walked into the med bay, the ones gathered there turned to look at him. Garrus' mandibles fluttered and Shepard took a few steps forward.

"Vashlani, as Commander of this vessel, I need to know something. Where the hell did you get the clothes, that staff, and that bag?" Her arms crossed under her breasts as she saw the completely different outfit that he wore. The wood staff he carried also stood out because she knew he didn't have it when they had surrounded him in the mess hall. Not to mention the bag looked like it was real fur and not synthetic.

Vashlani's ears twitched. "Umm . . .  Vashlani had it with him?"

"No. You didn't," Garrus said from where he stood behind Shepard.

He looked at Garrus and Shepard. "Vashlani's Master made him promise, before he died, not to tell anyone. I know you aren't mages but he promised. He asks that you do not make him break his promise."

Shepard stared at him, "Tell me one thing then. Is whatever you do to get these things a danger to anyone around you?"

"No. Vashlani would not put his new friends in danger." He looked at each of them, hoping they could hear his sincerity.

Shepard let out a sigh and hoped keeping him a secret wasn't going to come back and bite her in the ass. "All right. Ready to go down to the area Garrus and I set up for you?"

"Umm... one thing before we go." He opened the bag and withdrew several potions. He carefully lined the three of them up on the Doctor's desk. "These are for Joker. Not sure if they will help but he needs to drink them from left to right. One at a time and at least 30 seconds between phials. Please return bottles to Vashlani after Joker drinks the mixtures." Then he reached in and took out several bottles of red liquid and handed one to each of the others. "If there's an emergency, drink one of these. I only have so much magicka available. If you get hurt, drink it right away. Please return empty ones to Vashlani. He hasn't a means to obtain more of the crystal containers and must protect the ones he has."

Garrus held up the small phial and looked at it, his visor running a scan on it. "Hmm, we may be able to help you there, Vashlani, if you agree to let me keep this bottle, phial, whatever you call it or have one that has a crack or something in it. I just need the chemical make-up of the crystal and the design of the bottle. I can program the fabricator to make sure the results aren't cracked."

Vashlani's eyes were big and bright as he looked up at Garrus, "One moment." He looked around and went behind the screen. The three looked at each other then back at the screen as he came around carrying a smaller bottle. "This one has a crack but it is small and I need some of that size and the larger sizes." He pointed to the three on the table.

Garrus gave him a turian grin and could have sworn he heard a purr as his visor copied the dimensions and designs of the bottles. Vashlani pulled out his datapad and snapped a holo of Garrus holding the phial. "Okay, Vashlani is ready now."

 

* * *

 

Vashlani looked around at the windowless room they had taken him to. There were several old crates but no target dummies and no stones to absorb the energy. "Shepard? This area isn't safe. I can't show you much here."

"What do you mean?" She asked him as she looked around. There wasn't anything in there but some empty crates he could use as targets.

His ears rotated front then to the back and he held up his hand. They watched as sparks moved along the small ball that had formed in his palm. "There's nothing here to absorb the larger spells. Vashlani will show you only little things here."

They were still staring at the ball of electricity that sat in the palm of his hand. "Please stand well behind Vashlani and keep your potions handy. Sometimes things happen." When they took several steps back from him, still staring at the ball, he turned and launched the spark at a box. The enhanced spell disintegrated the wood.

"Holy shit . . . that was small?" Garrus said to Shepard. Even Tali's drone couldn't do that. When the ash from the crate had settled to the floor, he walked over and piled several of them up then walked back.

They watched as he held up both his hands. His arms moved in precise, flowing movements and then a transparent wolf appeared and let out a blood-curdling howl as a bow appeared in Vashlani's hands and a quiver of glowing arrows at the small of his back. He sent arrows into the boxes while the wolf attacked the remains of the crates before disappearing.

They were all blinking at him when he turned toward them. He went to stand in front of the Doc and gave her a smile before cupping his hands together. She felt a coldness radiating from him and looked down. Vashlani's hands glowed with a bluish-white light. He raised his hands and blew inside a small opening he made by moving his thumb. When he opened his hands, a miniature flower formed of a clear crystal was in the palm of his hand. "For you, Healer."

She held out her hand and he placed the delicate creation into her palm. "Thank you, Vashlani. It's beautiful."

"Vashlani would need a volunteer for some other small spells." He turned toward Shepard and Garrus as he spoke and saw the way they were staring at him. "Did this khajiit do something wrong?"

"Uh . . . no?" Shepard said as she gripped her phial tighter. "What . . . sort of small spells?" Shepard took a hesitant step forward; as Commander, it was her duty.

He dug around in his bag and brought out a couple of scrolls and handed them to her. "Promise none of you will tell anyone about these scrolls. The supplies needed to make them, Vashlani is not sure they are replaceable here, so please do not ask for more." He waited until he saw each of them nod then relaxed.

"Vashlani will go to where the boxes were. Open the scroll tied with blue ribbon, face only me, and read what is on it. Do not hesitate or look away from me. To do so could cause a backfire. At the last word point straight at me, nowhere else." He watched her swallow and hand her potion to Garrus before walking to where he stood. He gave her a smile then moved to where the boxes used to be.

The moment she broke the seal and started to speak, they saw him once again moving his hands and arms. She pointed and nearly screamed as a thick hunk of ice shot from in front of her heading straight for him, impossibly fast. They watched as it shattered against a glimmering shield in front of him. He walked over to Shepard. "That was excellent for first-time scroll use. Follow me. Safer if you move to different location." He positioned her to one side and pointed in front of her and then back to where the others were standing and jogged to the other side.

They stood staring at him. "Vashlani is ready for the other scroll, same as the other one. Make sure with this one you do not look at anyone else while you read it." He shouted at her from where he stood.

"That damn man is crazy as hell. If these are  ‘small’ spells, what the hell does he call the big ones?" Garrus muttered to Chakwas who stood there shaking, her eyes wide with shock.

Shepard swallowed then broke the seal; she watched in terror as the bow-wielding skeleton that appeared started firing arrows at him and she remembered to run to the other side where the other two watched.

Vashlani dove to the side, a slight golden glow around him, and brought up the shield again while moving toward the bone man. When he neared the creature, they noticed the purple glimmer in his other hand and watched as a sword appeared. Vashlani alternated slashing at the bone man with the sword and erecting the shield. They saw the skeleton collapse into a dark purple swirling pattern that seemed to flow into one of the pouches on his belt. They moved toward him as he rooted in a pile of glowing black ash at his feet.

"Ah, Vashlani hoped one of these would form." He picked up a purple crystal and held it up to the light before he dropped it into a pouch, then brushed aside more ashes before he let out a hiss. "Bah, junk." He pocketed what looked like a large curved, empty tube as they approached him.

"Vashlani, what the hell did we just witness?" Shepard asked him as they watched him stand and straighten his clothes.

"Simple spells for attack and defense. Vashlani is a mage, not a warrior; these are his weapons." He looked at them, not understanding what had happened.

Shepard rubbed her temples. "Why won't you teach us how to do this?" The thought of how much further humanity could progress went through her mind again.

"Only those blessed with magick can use it, Shepard. Vashlani doesn't know how else to say it. Magick is not something you can pick up in a book and just do. Even little spells like this one," he flicked his hand and a glowing ball struck Garrus in the chest plate, which caused a bright glowing light to stick to it, "can take years to learn."

"Vashlani, what the hell is this?" Garrus tried to brush the ball of light off him but it stayed stuck to his armor.

"Vashlani turned you into a lantern. The spell will wear off in a minute. Vashlani knew he made a mistake when he told you. Your actions and words are what Master warned him about; I should have listened and not trusted you."

Chakwas gave Shepard a glare then hurried over to where Vashlani had grabbed his bag and stood as he tried to figure out how to open the door.

 

* * *

 

The magelight spell finally wore off, and Garrus stood and stared at Shepard. "That wasn't too smart of you, Shepard. I may have my reservations about him, but even I could see that so far all he has done was try and be helpful. He didn't ask for much and Doc had already told you that he couldn't do it. Why push this? If it's what I think it is, then why haven't you just had Joker go to Earth and have your Alliance take him for study? Hmm? Put him through tests and procedures that he could hardly imagine? Things that would make him wish we had just killed him the moment he showed up in this place." Garrus looked down at her for a moment then walked away.

Shepard stood there for close to a full minute before she kicked a part of a crate that missed getting disintegrated.

 

* * *

 

Garrus found them in the medical bay. Both of them had guilty looks on their faces like they had been caught doing something they shouldn't have been. He took several steps into the room and his nose twitched.

"Something smells damn good in here." His mandibles fluttered as he sauntered further into the room and saw their furtive movements trying to hide whatever it was that they were eating.

"I'm practically afraid to ask where you found something that looks edible even to me. I know for a fact that the human that works in the mess didn't make that." Garrus moved the stool out from under the desk and sat. He almost laughed at how red Chakwas had become and the fast flicking of Vashlani's ears. He knew both of them were trying to come up with a plausible reason why something else had appeared on the ship that shouldn't have. Namely real food.

"Don't you dare tell anyone, Garrus. They would mug him for his food alone." Chakwas quickly slipped the half-eaten dumpling under the piece of plasti-paper sheeting she had torn off to use as a napkin.

"Hmph. Why should I keep it a secret? Not like he has anything to bribe me with. Tali and I can't eat the food." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at them both.

"Well . . . There is a chance that you can eat some of it, Garrus. His system can digest both kinds of food," Chakwas said to him in a hushed voice as if someone else could hear them. "I just need to do some testing on the food to see if it would be compatible. So far nothing has tested out dextro safe."

"Uh-huh,  and would this testing be breakfast, lunch, and dinner while the others try to survive the cook?" Garrus started to have a hard time keeping his subharmonics under control. He wasn't so sure the khajiit wouldn't be able to hear them. All he wanted to do was sit there and laugh at their expressions.

"Vashlani doesn't understand. He knows you said that Garrus is different than you and your foods can make him sick. What does he eat?" Vashlani popped a piece of taffy in his mouth and chewed. Garrus' nose twitched.

"What is that?" Garrus pointed to the pieces of taffy still in Vashlani's hand.

"This is Khajiit Moon Sugar Taffy. All khajiit have a sweet tooth. We add Moon Sugar to almost everything. But it is quite addictive to everyone that's not a khajiit. Well, even some of my kind use it as a drug, so Vashlani hasn't been adding it to the food he shares here. Instead, I make this taffy."

Chakwas looked at the bright pink pieces of candy in the furry hand and passed her omni tool over it. "Vashlani, can you bring me a sample of this Moon Sugar?"

He looked at her as he continued to chew. "Why? Moon Sugar is not safe for humans."

"This may be one of the ingredients that he can have. The readings I took are inconclusive, though. Maybe because of whatever else is used to make that candy."

He continued to chew and look at her. "If you promise Vashlani that you won't consume it." She nodded and he said he would bring her some the next day. She smiled at him then finished up her dumpling before cleaning her desk of any crumbs.

"Hmm, well if he can make me food that smells as good as that candy does once in a while, I would be one happy turian. Now I better get back down to the cargo hold and get to work on the Mako. I think tomorrow Shepard planned on bringing Tali up here to meet Vashlani now that you're sure he's no health threat to her. And Vashlani, what you did today was impressive. Except for turning me into a lamp."

Vashlani's ears rotated, and he dropped his eyes. "Vashlani is sorry that he cast a spell on you; he was just so upset."

Garrus patted him on the shoulder after he stood. "Don't worry about it. I was just kidding with you about the lamp bit."

 

* * *

 

Chakwas performed a scan on Joker after he drank the potions. They compared the last three scans. The one taken before the mission started, the one after the first potion he drank and then the most recent scan. Chakwas pointed out the density had increased.  It wasn’t a lot but it was noticeable. Vashlani agreed to make the next batch for Joker in ten days. That way they could see if the increase was just temporary or if it did help permanently. They just had to be careful. Too many questions could come up during his mandatory physicals.

Joker told them if they only took away some more of the pain and made it so he could sneeze and not worry about busting a rib that would be good enough for him. Vashlani took several holos of the three of them and promised to keep trying to find something that would help more.

 

* * *

 

Vashlani sat at his study desk reading when his pad gave a chime.

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

From: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net

I'm sorry about earlier. You were right to be upset with me. Sometimes I let the military side of me take over the more human side of me and for that, I am truly sorry.

What you did was impressive. Scary, but impressive. If you would like, maybe the team could get together and try to figure out a way to build something that would let you train with us. We need to see if the technology we have would be affected by your spells. I want to make sure you are safe, though.

I'll be bringing a different team member to meet you tomorrow. Be aware that Tali's immune system doesn't allow her to be outside of her suit. So do not be offended by it.

I missed you and Doc at dinner; she assured me that you had both eaten. I know those dried rations aren't the best but don't feel like you can't just come to the mess hall to sit with the rest of us as we choke down that . . . food, while trying not to die of food poisoning.

I tried to see you but you weren't answering your door. Maybe you will be willing to accept my apology by mail instead.

~*~

Vashlani read the email a few times then sent a short note letting her know that the apology was accepted. He packed up a few tomes, some apples, a lantern, and a small pouch of the Moon Sugar then took off his ring and returned to his room.

When he thought everyone else would be asleep, he snuck out and sat in the mess hall; it was dark, quiet, and he had more room. If someone did happen to come looking for him, they would think he had been on their ship the entire time.

He placed a candle in the lantern and lit it as he settled in for a few hours of reading time. He reached into his bag for an apple and polished it on his robe. He was so engrossed in reading the chapter that his Master had written on the spell crafting of a lightning cloak--the spell still fizzled out too quickly during practice--that he didn't hear the person coming up behind him.

*Crunch*

The sweet aroma of the fruit filled the air as he chewed. He jumped and let out a hiss, then started coughing when Shepard said from directly behind him, "Is that a real god damned apple?" She gave him a thump on the back and he was finally able to swallow the piece of fruit.

"Shit, sorry about that, Vashlani. I just couldn't believe what I saw and smelled." Vashlani dropped back into his chair and laid his head on the tome, still holding the apple in one hand.

"This khajiit may have just shit himself. Please stop scaring Vashlani." She started to laugh and rubbed the back of his head before she sat in the seat across from him.

"I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that back on Earth there are so few farms anymore. Everything is vat grown because of many devastating storms our planet had years ago and most of the planet had yet to gain advanced technology to deal with them and be able to save the crops. The places that did were what we call metropolitan areas, where most of the influential people lived, along with many others while the less fortunate areas are pretty much smog covered slums. Anyway, the storms destroyed most of the real food growing farms or the people just couldn't deal with the weather and stopped growing stuff. So now everything is made in these huge vats and well, it will keep you alive and sometimes tastes alright if the cook knows their way around a kitchen and can get food from other races to mix with it. That's why I was so startled by what appeared to be a real piece of fruit."

He looked up at her and she gave a slight shiver as his eyes were glowing blue and it was slightly unnerving. "Where Vashlani's people are from, it is somewhat arid with a  large desert in the North and dense humid jungles to the South. From what he learned, they have many farms there. Mainly for Moon Sugar and saltrice. The khajiit that live there eat mostly sweets, sugared meats, and dishes that contain the sugar and things that khajiit caravans and merchants trade for." He sat up and reached into his bag, brought out a green apple, and handed it to her. "This khajiit and many others have a more varied diet. My Master was a human that took Vashlani in when he was a child, so he grew up eating different foods. Vashlani still craves the sweets; it's part of being khajiit. It is in our blood."

"If I asked you where you got this, would you tell me?" Shepard asked as she sat and stared at the apple. She rubbed her thumbs on the smooth waxy surface before she held it up to her nose and inhaled.

"No. Khajiit is sorry, but he will not. Maybe one day."

She looked at him and gave a nod before biting into her apple. The sweet juice dripped down her chin when she let out a groan of appreciation. "Thank you, Vashlani."

He let out a small purr then went back to eating his apple and reading his book.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Proofread and beta'd by Kate_Shepard.
> 
> Thank you for reading the story and I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

* * *

 

 

Vashlani sat in the mess with a book titled, _The Apprentice's Assistant_ ,  which contained advice from Valenwood's most prestigious spellcaster,  while he waited for Shepard to get him to see this other crew member.

He had given the moon sugar to Chakwas after extracting another promise not to eat it. Then he sat at the table with Shepard and drank a bottle of water while the others choked down food that smelled worse than his stable did the day before the sphere cleaned it. The room had cleared of people with most of them headed for the med bay where Chakwas stood outside of the door handing out small packets. She had told him they contained the stomach aid he had also received.

He heard someone come off the lift and looked up to see Shepard heading toward him with a curious creature walking next to her. Vashlani shut his book and stood.

"Vashlani, please meet Tali'Zorah nar Raaya. Her race is called quarian. Because of the weakness of their immune system, their people adapted to wearing the suits as you can see. So don't be offended if she doesn't remove her helmet or gloves. To do so will make her extremely sick and possibly kill her if she doesn't receive treatment fast enough. Tali, this is Vashlani. He says his people are known as khajiit; he works with the Doc right now."

"I've heard about you from Garrus; the bosh'tet was closed mouth about specifics, though," Tali said to him. She was slightly unnerved by the way he stared at her.

"Pleasure to meet you. Please forgive Vashlani for his bad manners in watching you, but he has never met anyone like you. Your eyes also glow; reminds him of his people in a way. Ours do so when we use our night vision or if the light hits them just right. But yours, they continuously glow, yes? Can you see in the dark? Do you always wear a darkened mask? What do you look like under there?" Shepard had started to laugh and his ears twitched before he looked down and mumbled an apology.

"I won the bet; I can't wait to collect my credits from Garrus. I knew he wouldn't be able to resist firing off so many questions when he met you." Shepard patted him on the back. "Don't worry about it Vashlani. We all peppered her with questions just like those when she first came on board."

"That was nothing; Joker once asked if I was some tentacle monster. But I will answer some of your questions as you do have a reason for not knowing about my people. Yes, my eyes do glow. One of the unique features of my mask causes them to be so bright. When I am in an entirely sterile environment and can remove my mask, they aren't so bright. The helmet protects us from the harsh lights which we are not used to, especially those of the sun. We don't expose our skin to sunlight. The rays most stars produce can cause severe burns to us, so it must be dark. As to what I look like? Well, a girl has to have some secrets, you know." She let out a laugh and he gave her a smile, relieved that she didn't seem to be upset with all of his questions.

"Just like Garrus, she is a dextro-based life form. Unlike Garrus, her food is sterilized and is in individual containers that she uses. So she is one of the lucky ones that doesn't have to put up with the food."

They spoke for a while longer then Tali said she needed to get back to work down in Engineering and hoped to see him again soon. He pulled out his datapad and asked if he could have some holos. She happily agreed and Shepard took holos of them together. "Tali, before you go, get with Garrus and see if you two can't figure out how to make a training room for us all."

Tali cocked her head to the side. "Shepard, we have a training room already."

Shepard shook her head. "Talk with Garrus; he'll tell you just why we need a new place.  While you're at it, can you please tell Ash to come up here? Since he arrived, she hasn't come up from the cargo bay and I'm getting sick of her anti-alien bullshit. If she refuses or makes a comment just let me know."

Tali nodded and headed back to the lift. "Joker, tell the LT we're ready for him in the mess hall."

"He heard you Commander and is on the way." Joker let her know before cutting the comm, "ETA on reaching Therum is 12 hours."

"I decided it was time to meet the rest of the crew. There will be one more member for you to meet but we should do that once they get that room set up. Wrex can get rather ... rambunctious, especially when it comes to greeting new members. After our business concludes on Therum and we start heading to a new location, we will give you a thorough tour of the ship. Right now, though, the others are too busy getting ready for the mission and some of it is of a sensitive nature. Once I know if you can join us on missions, I will be open to giving you information. Well, that and extracting promises from you on secrecy. The Normandy is a military ship after all."

He nodded to her vigorously, listening to her every word, and turned when he heard someone clearing their throat. The man stood and waited for them to be finished talking. Shepard introduced each of them.

"Yeah, Joker told me some of what he knew already. I was one of the ones in the mess when you sorta fell into it from the ceiling. Scared the hell out of us, to be honest," the man said as one side of his mouth turned up in a slight smile.

Vashlani let out a small laugh. "Vashlani too was scared. One moment he was at the College and had been yelling at someone to stop reading from a tome. The next he fell on his back and thought he broke his tail. When this khajiit opened his eyes, he was no longer in the College but somewhere very strange."

"Yeah, that would freak out almost anyone. I usually hang around the bridge with Joker or working on one of the terminals that no one seems to be able to fix for more than a few days, near the other end of the deck. When you get your clearance to do so why don't you come see me?  I’d be glad to talk with you if I'm not getting ready for a mission."

"Vashlani would like that. Vashlani will have a lot of questions for -", his ears flicked, "for Lieutenant."

Shepard and the man laughed at him. "It's Kaidan. Lieutenant is my rank in the Alliance." They heard Chakwas calling out for Kaidan and he waved to let her know that he heard her. "Guess I will be going in for a check-up before heading to work, Commander." He waited to be dismissed then headed to the med bay.

A few minutes later, a dark-haired woman came around from the lift and his ears twitched when he noticed the frown on Shepard's face. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, this is the newest member of the crew, Vashlani. Since I have determined he is not a threat to us, he is given leave to go to the non-classified sections of the ship. You will also no longer restrict yourself to just the small area of the ship to sleep and to eat in unless you are sure that only humans happen to be around. You will communicate with all of the crew; you will respect all of the crew. This warning is the last I will give you. Have I made myself clear, Chief?"

"Aye aye, Ma'am." The dark-haired woman saluted her but had yet to look at Vashlani. "I still need to finish prep of the gear for the mission. Permission to be dismissed, ma'am?"

"Dismissed," Shepard growled out and watched as the woman swiveled and walked away.

"Sorry about her, Vashlani. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about her. Normally I would have booted her off here, but since she has information concerning you, she has to stay."

She glanced up to see him looking down at her. "Do not worry, Shepard. People usually treat Vashlani's people as nothing more than thieves, pickpockets, and skooma dealers. It's not true, though there are certainly those among us just as they are in every race, but we have become used to it."

"Let me see the pad that I gave you," she asked him. When he handed it to her, she input a code into it. "I gave you access to the map of the ship and your hand print will now open select doors. If a door won't open for you, it is either a private room, it's locked, or it is a classified section of the ship that you don't have clearance to yet. The regular doors like your room door and the med bay will still work as normal. If you like, you can explore the ship. Just remember, this is a military vessel. What you see or hear on here is to be kept to yourself. You aren't to tell anyone else, alright?"

She grinned as she saw his eyes sparkling, ears twitching, and the broad grin on his face. "Vashlani promises." She handed him back the pad and he barely waited for her to move away from him before he stuffed the book into his pack, shoved his arms through the straps, and headed for the first of the doors that wouldn't open for him earlier.

 

* * *

 

The ground crew assembled in the meeting room a few hours before they were to reach Therum. "According to Anderson’s intel, Benezia's daughter is here on an archaeological dig. If we know about her, so does Saren. Hopefully, we will make it before the others do. " She leaned against the railing as the other ones shifted in their chairs, she heard a few grumbles.

"Joker, transfer the information for Therum to the holo-screen in here please." She waited, and when the screen filled with the image of the planet and the information they had about it started to scroll along the right side of the screen, they began to plan.

 

* * *

 

"Joker! Is this where you stay?" Vashlani came up on the bridge after working his way around the CIC. He found a door that was locked and wouldn't open so just walked around the other way. He kept stopping to talk to people and see what they were doing. He had tried the door marked "Airlock" and some strange voice told him that it was inadvisable to open the airlock door while they were not in a docking bay. That's when he heard Joker start to laugh.

"Hey, Vash. This area is what is called the bridge and it's where I work to fly this ship. Have a seat." He pointed to the chair that was usually occupied by Kaidan.

Vashlani started to tell him what he had seen and then asked him about that airlock door. He asked who that person was that had just talked to him. Joker said it wasn't a person but a special program called a Virtual Intelligence and was part of the ship meant to help with everyday things, to make sure the ship was secure, and to signal them in case there was trouble.

Of course, that set off another round of questions from Vashlani. Finally, he seemed to run out of steam and Joker reached over to turn on the outside cameras. For a moment Vashlani almost passed out again but soon realized he was safe and if Joker wasn't worried that it was alright. He started pointing and asking more questions.

When Shepard's voice came over the speakers talking with Joker, he waited and then began to ask more. Joker held up a hand, "Sorry buddy, but I can't tell you that. Not unless the Commander expressly tells me it is ok to do so."

Vashlani's ears rotated. "Alright." He smiled and let out a purr then went back to looking at the view.

Several minutes later, Vashlani looked around the area then reached into his bag. "Joker, Vashlani has something you might like to eat." Joker turned to him and cocked his eyebrow. Vashlani held out his hand and dropped a small round ball into Joker's hand. "Honey and nut treat," Vashlani smiled at him then popped one in his mouth chewing contentedly.

Joker sniffed at it. "Shit, this is real," he whispered. He bit off a small piece, "Oh damn, that is delicious." He had popped the rest of the treat in his mouth before anyone else saw it.

 

* * *

 

"That planet's going to be hot, Shepard. Look at the recent scans, volcanic activity, molten lava in spots." Garrus pointed out several areas with safety concerns. "Taking the Mako would be better than trying to find a safe place to land the Normandy. We can land further away from the dig site, and go in with the vehicle. Take out anything in our way, grab the asari, and haul ass back to a safer spot for pickup. The tricky thing will be getting it done before the damn heat fries the circuits in our suits and if we get in trouble with that damn lava . . ." He didn't need to finish his sentence; everyone there knew what would happen to them if they found themselves in trouble.

Shepard stared at the information and thought for a while. Without an actual view of the path from the nearest drop point to the site, she couldn't plan for every bit of trouble. "Garrus, you think Vashlani might have something he can give us to combat the heat?" She thought back on that chunk of ice she shot from that scroll.

He scratched at his mandible; he had no idea what that guy knew. "Don't think it would hurt to ask him. Just keep in mind what happened before, Shepard." She nodded and the others looked at them and weren’t sure they understood.

"VI, what is the current location of Vashlani?"

"Vashlani is currently on the bridge." The computerized voice responded.

"Joker, I need to ask Vashlani something, make sure no one else is on the bridge, please. Let me know when the others are gone."

Joker looked at Vashlani then yelled for the two ensigns to beat it; they heard the Commander. He carefully twisted around to make sure they were out of earshot, then turned the speakers to just the small ones in front of the seats. "It's clear, Commander."

"Vashlani, can you hear me?" Joker showed him which button to push and he smiled at him then pushed it.

"Yes, Shepard. Vashlani can hear you."

"Vash, you have to let go of the button so you can listen to what she's saying." Joker's voice came right afterward and the others let out a laugh.

"Oh, like thi..."

"Vashlani, we're going into an area that is sweltering. Do you have anything that we would be able to use to help us while we are there?" Shepard asked him as she leaned against the railing, her lips still twitching.

"...hold it when you talk." They had heard Joker before Vashlani said, "This khajiit thinks he understands now. Thank you, Joker. Shepard, by sweltering, do you mean because of heat from a fire or just heat like a desert?"

"Fire, as in lava from a volcano."

"Vashlani has a potion to help you resist the effects of fire. It won't last very long. This khajiit can check his Master's old recipe books to see if there is a more powerful version of it. No, Joker, I don't have any more of those, the sack is empty. Oh, forgot to let . . ." Garrus had his hand clapped over his mouth as he tried to stifle his laughter. Tali elbowed him and called him a bosh'tet.

Shepard had a hard time controlling her laughter. "We have 2 hours before we arrive at Therum. Will that give you enough time to do whatever it is you need to do?"

"If you want the basic ones, it will. But the superior ones Vashlani is not sure about until he checks the complexity of the mixture. The basic blends will help lower the damage from the fire, but only 20%. It lasts sixty seconds, so only use it when you need it. You can use one after the other if you have to, up to four. After that, you run the risk of poisoning yourself."

"Only 20% he says." Garrus shook his head.

Shepard raised her eyebrow at Garrus, "Vashlani, can you make potions for four of us? Four potions each, that should keep us from overdosing."

"Vashlani can do that, but he needs the phials to make that many and will need them brought back." Shepard looked at Garrus who nodded then stood up and made his way to the door.

"Garrus has gone to make you the bottles; just let him know where to bring them. Do you need anything else?"

Shepard waited, and a few moments later he said, "I can't be disturbed. Will bring the finished potions to the med bay. Vashlani asks that you make sure he is not bothered. No one comes into the room." She frowned and wondered a bit about all the secrecy, but then again after what had happened before she supposed she could understand it. The fewer people that knew about it, the less chance it has for someone to leak the intel.

"Agreed, Vashlani. Thank you." Shepard pushed off the railing and the others stood up to leave.

"Vashlani is happy that he can help his friends."

 

* * *

 

Garrus brought up a box filled to the brim with the bottles. Vashlani's eyes grew large at how many were there. "If you need more just let me know," he told him as he placed the box on the cot. He gave the room a quick glance and only saw the cot, a table, and Vashlani inside the room. How the hell would he fill those bottles with nothing in here?

"Thank you for your generosity." Vashlani reached into the box and pulled out one of the small phials and let out a purr at seeing the perfect container.

"Wasn't a problem. Glad to help." Garrus walked out the door and it closed and locked behind him.

"Well?" Shepard asked as he came around the corner.

"That room is as empty as it was before. How the hell he is gonna pull it off, I have no damn idea. Maybe you should turn that camera back on," Garrus said to her as they went into the lift.

She shook her head, "Chakwas had it taken down. She was pissed about me breaking the regs. He's got a secret, a big one. But like she had said, with what we already had done and with me acting as I did, I really can't blame him for keeping it."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy.
> 
> This chapter has not been proofread/beta-read at the time of original posting. All mistakes are my own, and I ask that you please excuse them. Hopefully, the chapter will be fairly easy to read. Thanks for all of the comments, kudos, subscriptions, and bookmarks they are all very appreciated.
> 
> UPDATE: 10/26/2016 Proofread and improved by Kate_Shepard for grammar and sentence structure. Thank you so much :)

* * *

 

 

He made sure the room was secured then held onto the box as he said the phrase to enter the bag. He stumbled under the weight of the box until he made it to the closest storage chest. He carefully checked each phial before he placed it into the box. He kept out several to fill with the potion of fire protection.

He hurried into the crafting room and placed the box down then pulled out his book. He noticed the phials had been added then started to flip through the enchanted items list. He thought the Master had left him something that might be of help.

"Staves, Daggers, and necklaces. No, none of those will help," he said as he flipped the pages. "Ah ha, Master did." He put his hand on the box then opened it, revealing the circlet. He slipped it over his ears and started making the potions.

 

* * *

 

He gave a sigh and put his circlet back and requested four small sacks. He carefully filled them then took off his ring.

"Vashlani has your potions. Four each." He handed the sacks to each of them. "Where is the other person for the last bag?"

Shepard explained to him that they were picking up someone and those would be for her if they were needed. Vashlani's whiskers twitched and he clutched the bag. "It's alright, Vashlani. I'll hold onto them and just have her drink one if it's needed. I'll tell her it's an Alliance secret thing," Shepard said to him and after a moment he slowly held out the bag.

"Vashlani would like the sacks and phials brought back, undamaged if possible. Along with any remaining potions." His voice sounded worried; he hadn't realized there would be someone he didn't know using them and another person to ask him questions he didn't want to or couldn't answer. "I was able to make them stronger, though they still only last one minute. This khajiit hopes it helps."

"That you were willing to do this for us helps, Vashlani." Garrus put his hand on the khajiit's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. Shepard patted his other shoulder and Kaidan nodded at him with a curious look on his face as he held the bag.

 

* * *

 

They were sitting in the Mako when Kaidan opened the bag. "What the hell are these?" He pulled out one of the bottles and watched as a white liquid swirled around inside it. His suit’s sensors registered that the bottle was colder than the air around them.

"They are gifts from Vashlani; that's all you need to know right now, Lieutenant. Make sure if you need to use one to lower your temperature and protect yourself from the heat and fire, that you don't just drop the bottle, make sure you protect those."

Kaidan looked up at Shepard and watched as she placed the bottles carefully inside two compartments of her suit using the sack to cushion them. Garrus did the same thing. He wasn't so sure trusting that strange alien with drinking such weird things was a good idea. He decided he wouldn't do it and just hoped his suit could handle the issue. He put the bag on the back seat and just tied the cloth strips to the arm rest before he went to sit in the co driver's chair.

 

* * *

 

"Spirits, Shepard. Watch the damn lava. I don't want to have to use the potions before we even get out of the Mako!" Garrus yelled from his spot at the gunner's seat. It only caused her to gun the vehicle harder and they went bouncing over the geth they had just shot. They were airborne for a few seconds then landed with another bounce before she stomped on the pedal again.

When they reached what looked like two huge boulders blocking the way, Garrus started to reach for his safety harness when the vehicle gave a lurch and began to rock. "What the hell are you doing, Shepard?" Garrus asked as he was flung back and forth in his seat from the motion of the Mako.

The Mako slowly tipped to the side as she continued to gun the engine and rock it even harder. The wheels fought for traction and finally with one last push on the pedal the vehicle landed on the other side of the rocks.

"I knew it would fit through there," she said as she hit the pedal again. None of them noticed the liquid dripping from the bag in the back seat.

 

* * *

 

"Damn, it's getting hotter in here." Shepard looked at her suits readout, she was still within its operational levels so didn't use one of the potions, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could push it.

"I think we're getting closer to an underground lava flow, it's why the temperature has started to spike. Hopefully, those potions he made will work. We need to find that asari and get the hell out of here soon Shepard," Garrus said after he finished off a Geth that shot at them from one of the lower levels.

Kaidan hadn't said a word. His suit had begun to push its limit before the failure alarms sounded. He started turning off some of the secondary programs hoping he could divert more power to the cooling system to circulate the coolant and improve the airflow. There was a slight drop, but now he was without a weapons-targeting system and the medical exoskeleton he had installed was useless.

They found the asari trapped behind a forcefield. She looked dehydrated, exhausted, and quite pale for an asari. "We’ve got to get her out of there Shepard before she dies," Kaidan told her as he tried to run a medical scan through the barrier but not being able to get any actual readings.

They started down another ramp to the area below hoping to find a way into the asari’s room from the other side when Kaidan's suit alarm blared.

"Take a potion, Kaidan before your suit starts to fry," Shepard yelled over the sound of the gunfire and the alarm. When they killed the last sniper the alarm still blared, and she turned to him. The way he didn't meet her eyes told her what happened.

"You're a damn fool." She took out one of the extra potions, forced the cork out and dumped it into the intake port of his helmet. The alarm ended. "We got to move now." She no sooner said it than the other two alarms blared and they had to start using the potions.

They found a laser mining tool and were able to get the area under the asari opened by blasting a hole in it. Garrus yelled out that the heat on his suit had begun to rise faster. Kaidan's alarm went off again, and Garrus handed him one of his potions then ran after Shepard as she poured one of her own in her helmet's port.

Shepard lowered Liara to the ground and told her who she was and that she was there to get her to safety. Liara was so ill and weak that the group wasn't sure they could get her out of the chamber and back to the Normandy. Garrus pulled out the healing potion that he carried and handed it to Shepard. "Here Liara, drink these. It will make you feel better." Once she drank the red potion Shepard fished out one of the white swirling ones and held it to Liara's lips, "This one too, it will cool you down for a short time. We need to move; I wish we could give you more time to recover."

"I feel much better already," Liara told her as they headed for the hole. "I think there’s a lift over this way. It should take us to the surface or at least close to it."

A large krogan and several geth stopped them just as their suit alarms blared. When the krogan fell, Shepard passed the last of her spare potions to Kaidan and they each used one. Shepard coaxed Liara to take another draught and as they started to move again, an earthquake started. Lava began to pour out of an opening in the floor near them, "Move it."

They started to run, but Kaidan began to fall behind when the servos in his suit began to fail from the heat. "Shit. Garrus take Liara and run, we'll be right behind you." She dragged Kaidan's arm over her shoulders and moved as fast as she could, her suit alarm starting again. "Joker, we're in trouble here. We need a pickup at our location. This place is turning into a lava pool."

He sent an acknowledgment and an ETA which wasn't fast enough for Shepard. "Sooner than that or we're going to be crispy critters here, Joker." Several systems on her suit started to fail as they made it to the surface. They saw Wrex jump into the Mako and hit the boosters which sent it straight up and into the path of the Normandy's cargo lift. They watched Garrus run and leap into the open cargo hatch while carrying Liara and they tried to do the same. Shepard gave as big a push as she could and felt them hit the cargo bay door. Several hands reached out and pulled them on board.

 

* * *

 

The medical team rushed them to the med bay where Chakwas and Vashlani waited. Shepard did a double take as Vashlani was covered head to foot in the Doc's quarantine suit and a dark mask. The only way she could tell it was Vashlani was the eyes glowed behind the faceplate.

He started to reach toward Kaidan to heal him when Shepard stopped him. "No, Vashlani. You tend to Liara. Let the Doc use the usual methods on Kaidan."

Chakwas looked at all of them and wondered just what happened on the planet to upset Shepard so much as to stop the much faster healing that Vashlani was capable of doing.

Vashlani blinked several times then moved over to where the other person laid on the bed. He inched closer and saw she was blue and had some strange things growing from her head instead of fur, hair or feathers; she had no ears either.

Vashlani looked over at Garrus, who gave a grunt as he took off a piece of his armor and tried to ease the black suit he wore under it down enough to see the damage. Vashlani saw the difference in the colors of the plates immediately; he waved one of his hands and Garrus glowed softly for a moment before he let out a relieved sigh.

Vashlani turned his attention back to the person on the table. He gently touched her shoulder sending a small amount of healing into her.

Liara could barely open her eyes to see who stood near her, but she gave a weak thank you as whatever the person had given her made her feel moderately better.

"This one, she needs food and water and many hours of uninterrupted sleep, as well."

"Okay, thank you Vashlani." Chakwas injected the asari with a sleep aid, and hooked up an IV for fluids and to replace the electrolytes in her system. She then went back to Kaidan.

Vashlani fully healed Shepard and Garrus and their bodies glowed with the bright golden light. When he finished, he took off the suit and sat on a stool. Shepard and Garrus unloaded the empty bottles and sacks onto the table.

"These helped, Vashlani, thank you," Garrus said to him as he laid the last of the empty bottles on the table.

"Vashlani is glad they helped." He looked over the bottles and frowned, then looked up at Shepard. "Some bottles are missing. Vashlani would like the rest if you please."

Tali entered the med bay just then carrying a sack that was discolored and still wet.

"Wrex found this inside the Mako, it was tied to the back seat. Joker told me to bring it to you, Vashlani." She carefully placed the bag on the table in front of him. His eyes took in the condition of his sack and he hesitated to look inside it. All four remaining crystal phials inside the bag lay broken. His ears flicked and his tail swayed before he stood and gathered up everything, including the ruined bag.

"Vashlani will be in his room, please do not disturb him." He walked out leaving the entire room in silence.

"Well, that answers that question," Chakwas said as she jabbed the injector against Kaidan's neck harder than necessary before releasing the pain reliever into his system.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you goes to Kate_Shepard for beta reading the chapter. I hope those that are reading the story are still enjoying it. As always kudos, comments, and constructive criticism are welcome. Please bear in mind that Vashlani is a unique character with his own unique quirks.
> 
> Enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

 

Vashlani locked the door to his room then immediately teleported into his bag. He emptied out the sack into the rubbish barrel in the kitchen, which apparently was either enchanted to empty on its own or there was someplace the sphere took the refuse to get rid of it. Right now he didn't care which it was. All he saw was the shattered remains of the phials that Garrus had made for him. He dropped the sack into a basket near the kitchen door before he placed the used crystal phials into a large pan of water. He added the magical cleanser to dissolve the remnants of the old potions as they soaked.

After a shower, he took a tome from the shelf and went outside to sit and stare out at the pond. He couldn't understand the people from that ship most of the time. Shepard asked him for help; he provided it willingly, but then it was disregarded by one of her team. He could tell from how badly the three of them were injured that they had shared the potions instead of having enough for all of them. But why?

He had sat there for so long that the magelight in the "sky" had started to dim, signaling the ending of the day cycle inside the bag. He heard the goats and chickens coming in from the meadow and heading for their usual spots in the stable. The sphere came out and gathered the washing to take back inside and hang in the crafting room to finish drying. He went inside, made a meal and went to bed.

 

* * *

 

"Commander, have you seen Vashlani? He hasn't come to the med bay or out of his room since he left yesterday. I'm getting worried," Chakwas asked as they sat at the mess table, neither one ate the muck that was on their plates.

Shepard shook her head no. "I'm going to send him a message. He asked to be left alone, and it's the least we can do not to barge in on him. I think Garrus made him another batch of those phial bottle things and Joker told Kaidan to get the hell out of Vashlani's seat when he had gone up to the bridge."

Chakwas let out a sound between a sigh and a harumph, "I can't believe what Kaidan did. Granted he hadn't seen the things we did, but to disregard what you had told him and not take care of someone else's property. At least he could have done secured them properly so they wouldn't break. From what Tali had told me, Wrex had found them just hanging off the arm of the seat. The fluid covered the seat, the floor, and everything else."

"I think Kaidan learned his lesson, although I wouldn't be surprised if Vashlani is reluctant to offer aid to us now. I don't know where he gets the stuff he does, but other than the bottles he hasn't asked for anything. So whatever it is that he needed to make that stuff, he provided it." Shepard lightly banged her fork on the plate. "I'm going to go down and see if they've finally finished the new training room, maybe we can use it to lure him out from his room."

Shepard’s stomach let out a growl, but she just couldn't bring herself to eat the mess that was on the plate. She made a mental note to speak with Anderson when they took a trip back to the Citadel to restock. They needed someone that could cook, or they were all going to starve to death. She dumped her untouched plate of food into the dispose-all and noticed it almost overflowed from everyone else doing the same. She hit the button to empty it and dropped her plate into the tub.

 

* * *

 

She found Garrus and Tali working in the training room. Garrus had told Tali a little about what he had seen, and they had both done research to try and find something to make the setup work. They located some schematics for an old electrical grounding device. They weren't sure it would work, but they started to fabricate the pieces anyway.

Wrex bugged Shepard because he had overheard the others talking and wanted to meet this person and find out if he was as strong as they said he was. Shepard told him as soon as they completed the room then they would see, but he wasn't to kill the guy. Wrex laughed at her then went to help Tali with some of the heavier pieces.

"Garrus, have you seen Vashlani yet?" She asked him as she drew closer to him. He welded several small pieces of metal together; he turned off the tool after he finished and took off his helmet.

"Nope. Not since he left the med bay. We’ve been trying to get this room done for him; for when he is ready to come out. I'll send him a message when I get this part done and let him know I have more bottles to give to him. Although I think he was more upset when he heard they were just left like garbage and not so much because the bottles broke." They spoke a few more minutes then he put his helmet back on as she left.

 

* * *

 

 

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

From: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net

 

Vashlani, I'm just sending you a note to check on you. We missed you at meals, and the Doc has been asking about you. We hope we can get that practice room done soon but they will need to ask you some questions to see if it's safe enough.

Wrex, one of the ground crew you haven't met yet, asked about you. He said he couldn't wait to test your skills in battle. Fair warning the guy is big and extremely tough.

Just let me know you're doing ok in that room and if you need anything just ask.

 

~*~

 

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

From: SxySnypr@Normandy.net

 

Hey Vashlani, it's Garrus. Just letting you know I have some more of those bottle things for you. Tali and I have been working hard on this room and it's almost ready. Hopefully, it can withstand those spells of yours.

The Doc called me into the med bay an hour ago, those tests she ran on that sugar of yours were finally done. Apparently, it's a dextro-compatible substance, so yay for me. Too bad Tali can't eat it. Without one of those food things to make it safe she can't have anything but those drinks of hers, but I'll be nice and not eat anything that looks tasty in front of her.

Let me know when you're ready to check out the room.

 

~*~

 

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

From: BDPiTG_Joker@Normandy.net

 

Hey, Vash. Heard what happened. Don't let it get to you. We humans can be real assholes sometimes. Anyway, when Kaidan came up to the bridge I told him to get the hell out of your chair. It's waiting for you, buddy. 

We're heading for a new planet, and you won't want to miss it. 

In case you’re wondering about my screen name it’s: Best Damn Pilot in The Galaxy,  yeah because I am, LOL ( laughing out loud )

 

* * *

 

He practiced his restoration skills all morning and trying to build his magicka pool, so they didn't drain him so badly. After he had eaten, he decided to make Joker's potions and spend time outside the house. He saw the sphere disappear around the opposite side of the house, at one point but didn't feel like getting up to see where it went with its basket.

Vashlani spent the rest of the afternoon in the practice room. Since he had left the pad lying on the table in his bedroom, he didn't get the messages until after he got ready for bed that night. He read them and put the pad down on the table. As he put out the candles, he decided he would send out answers in the morning then go back to Shepard's starship.

 

* * *

 

He sent the messages and repacked his travel bag. When he arrived on the ship, he went to the med bay and dropped off Joker's potions for later. Chakwas said she was glad to see him and didn't look like he had starved to death in there. He just shrugged and told her he would be back in a bit; he needed to see Joker and Garrus had wanted to see him too.

Joker welcomed him before he turned on the outside cameras so Vashlani could see where they were heading. "Someone asked Shepard for a favor before we had left what is called the Citadel, it's sort of like a big floating city. Anyway, you'll be seeing that soon, but she wanted to head to this place and take care of this little problem before going back now that we have Liara. She also mentioned something about decent food, so maybe we're getting someone on here that knows how actually to cook." Vashlani sat in the navigator's chair and looked at the large, strange shaped object. It looked like one of the objects that hung from the College’s ceiling in one of the artifact rooms.

As they got closer, he could tell it was much different. Full of lights and the gyro in the center started to turn. "Vashlani, you may want to hold onto something. We are about to go through the relay. Try not to piss in your seat, alright." Joker turned to him and grinned.

Vashlani got a bad feeling about this and sent a prayer to the Divines to watch over him. He didn't blink as they drew closer. The gyro moved faster then he felt a jerk in his stomach and covered his eyes from the bright light.  When the jerking sensation ended he cautiously peeked out from behind his hands and noticed Joker was grinning at him.

"Not bad, Vash. You did miss the fun part when you had your eyes covered, though."

"Khajiit's eyes do not like the extreme brightness." He once again looked at the camera view at the stars.

"Well damn, I should have thought of that and dimmed the screens. Remind me, and I'll do that for the next one that you're here for." Vashlani nodded at him. After telling Joker goodbye, he followed the directions that Garrus had sent him to find the practice room.

"Hey, there you are. We've almost finished with the room. Take a look around and see if there's anything else that you might need. Then we'll explain a few things to you," Garrus said from where he stood on a ladder while he sprayed something on a wall.

Vashlani didn't know what most of this stuff was. Things that might be training targets, but he wasn't sure. "Vashlani doesn't know any of this."

Garrus waved at him to let him know he had heard. Garrus finished spraying the walls and took Vashlani around to the various pieces of equipment.

"Okay, these things are called grounders. They were used on Earth to draw away lightning strikes from residences, an upgraded version of what they described as a lightning rod. Instead of diverting those lightning attacks of yours into the ground, these will absorb it and convert it into a different form of energy and fill up individual batteries; containers to hold power so it can be put to use later. As long as that light is green, it can absorb any electrical strike. Once it goes red, though, it's full and will overload if there is an electrical discharge near it.  We don't want that. It takes about a minute for the electricity to convert and move into the storage container, then the light will go green, and you can start all over again."

Vashlani's eyes grew larger the more Garrus spoke. What did Garrus mean by storing the energy for later?

"Okay, now I'm not sure what else you can do, but we found some training drones in one of the crates in the hold. They sort of work like mechanical sparring partners. They will attack you and everything, but they are all programmed to monitor your vital signs, so they don't do any severe damage to you. We can tweak those to suit your skill level. These are all we have right now, so try not to turn them into ash."

He pointed to the walls, "I coated this entire area with a military grade insulation. It is supposed to be capable of handling extreme temperatures and weathers, so hopefully it will withstand your spells. I’ll need to remind Shepard to restock our emergency supply because I used it all."

"This over here is where we'll test our technology against your magic. Shepard wants a safe place to find out if that shield of yours can withstand our weapons, tech skills, and biotics. It should also tell us if your magic will work against our tech. If it seems that your shields or whatever can protect you and your magic can get through our shields, then I think Shepard may make you an actual ground crew member. We'll need to outfit you with protective gears, though. Those robes and clothing won't protect you in most of the environments we go to."

Vashlani ran a hand over his red and gold shirt, the light chain decorations of the over tunic caught and reflected the light in the room. "Vashlani doesn't understand; protective magics imbue these robes."

"Hmm, well they may protect you against certain things, but the lack of oxygen to breathe, temperatures that will freeze you solid in a matter of seconds, and pressure that will squash you flat in the blink of an eye. No, I don't think those clothes will protect you from that, and those are just a few things we encounter out here." Garrus said and watched as Vashlani's eyes grew wide and his hands stilled on his clothing.

"No, Vashlani's clothing won't do that. Help against other magics and contribute to regenerating his magic and reduce the drain of his magics for casting, yes they do that. Keep him from being squashed, no."

Garrus started laughing, "Don't worry; we'll have a special set made for you, then Tali and I will customize it to account for your tail, your feet and your ears since you are the only sapient species that has one that long. Wrex, well, he's got a short, stubby one. Nothing like that long one you have."

"I must have misheard you turian; you did not just call my tail stubby." Vashlani jumped as a loud booming voice echoed in the room, and he could feel the vibrations of something or someone as they tread closer to them. Did they have a giant on board?  Vashlani turned to where Garrus looked and saw what had to be this Wrex creature coming for them.

"You heard right Wrex; it's short and stubby. Look at the long, graceful tail of Vashlani here and tell me you think differently," Garrus said to the giant creature that had stopped in front of them.

Wrex started to growl and his lips twisted into a snarl. "This Cub can't even compare to me. He's even scrawnier than most of the humans on board."

"Now, Wrex. Don't judge him by his size. You learned that lesson when Shepard thumped you during your spar." Garrus' mandibles fluttered, and the others heard his subharmonics holding notes of laughter.

"That's because it's Shepard. This Cub isn't her." Wrex turned his red gaze onto Vashlani and took in a deep breath. "He smells strange."

Vashlani stood straighter and looked the creature in the eye. "Vashlani begs your pardon. He does not smell. Vashlani takes a bath every day and uses soap. He keeps his fur and clothes clean."

Garrus let out a snort; he knew for a fact that Wrex had yet to use the shower. Then again he hadn't seen Vashlani use it either, but the guy was always clean and had clean clothes on all the time.

Wrex snarled at Vashlani, "I heard you can do some pretty impressive things. I think they have been telling stories. You don't look powerful."

"Wrex . . . I don't think you should anger him." Garrus took a slight step forward, and Wrex gave out a growl and elbowed the turian out of the way.

"What's the Cub going to do; pour his bowl of milk on me?"

Vashlani's eyes narrowed, and quick as a flash he grabbed Wrex with both hands and sent shocks into him.

Garrus stumbled back as the krogan jerked and spasmed; he heard the crackling of the discharge in the air and could smell Wrex's flesh heating up from it.

When Vashlani let go of Wrex, the krogan collapsed to one knee.

"Vashlani isn't a Cub. Next time Vashlani won't hold back." Vashlani took a step back and straightened his clothing. He hadn't entirely been sure he could pull off a dual cast of the Lightning Grasp spell that his Master had written in one of his tomes. He had only practiced single touch while holding a staff in his other hand. To his astonishment, Wrex started to laugh before he stood up again.

"This Cub has teeth. I can't wait to test him out in battle."

Garrus gave a laugh and pointed at Wrex. "Uh, Wrex, you're smoking. You may want to put that out." Wrex looked down at his arms where Vashlani had grabbed him and noticed his plates were indeed smoking.

He gave a shrug. "Eh, it'll stop soon. Won't take more than an hour to fix anyway."

Vashlani looked between the two of them. The massive creature wasn't acting like he just got shocked with enough lightning to drop a sabrecat in its tracks and he brushed off severe burns as if they were nothing. "Vashlani . . . is sorry for what he did. He can heal the one called Wrex."

"Nah, Cub, this is nothing." Wrex looked at him and grinned, "My race regenerates and has redundant organs and nervous systems. That stunt you pulled hurt, but you're gonna have to do better than that to take down a krogan."

Wrex turned to Garrus, "Let's just keep this between us. Shepard will kick my ass if she finds out I came in here before she 'introduced' us."


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

 

 

Shepard warned Wrex to behave himself when he met Vashlani. It was all Garrus could do not to start laughing, a growl from Wrex let him know that he had heard the subharmonics.

Tali was in the room with Vashlani, she showed him her drone, Chatika vas Paus, and told him it also had a shock type ability. They stood near the back when she called Chatika, and they watched it and the other drone battle. She pointed out how the grounder barely glowed because her combat drone didn't use a pure form of lightning. When the fight ended they moved the used sparring drone to the side so its repair function would have time to work and placed a new one in the middle.

"Okay, Vashlani. This spar will show us if the attacks you have will affect our technology, like our suits and so forth. The drone will attack you as well. It isn't lethal remember, so don't worry about that. But we need to see if your shields can stop our ammo. If it gets through, I will warn you; it's gonna hurt like hell."

Vashlani moved into the spot where Tali indicated. "Let me know when you are ready. I have the control so if you need me to stop the drone just tell me."

Vashlani gave her the nod then narrowed his eyes, "Let's begin."

The drone powered up, and Vashlani raised his ward with one hand while he cast Ironflesh with his other. He dodged away from the mech and shot out a spark ball that paralyzed the drone for a few seconds. He started to summon a flame atronach when the first impacts of the training rounds hit him. It startled him enough that his spell fizzled. He used another spark ball then dropped his ward, drank a small potion which caused a blue swirl to form around him. He just finished his cast of the atronach when the drone moved.

The second the being was summoned and started to shoot off fireball after fireball at the drone everyone else froze. Tali yelled the drone was gonna blow and Vashlani banished the atronach then dove for cover just as the machine exploded. When the pieces of the now useless drone finished falling on them, Vashlani healed himself, stood up coughing and shaking the debris from his clothes.

"Vashlani? What the hell was that?" Garrus asked him as he picked a few of the larger chunks up off the floor. Tali peeked out around the crate she had made a dive for and ran a suit check to look for any damage.

"It was a flame atronach. Vashlani didn't realize that machine would be so weak." Vashlani continued to brush off his clothing while Wrex started laughing.

"I like this one Shepard, can we keep him?" The Krogan battle master slapped Vashlani on the back which caused him to stumble and slam into Garrus with an "Ouch, that hurt."

As they cleaned up the mess, Vashlani apologized for destroying their drone. He explained the summons he used was the weakest of the elements. He truly was sorry. He thought casting a summons that was not of his favored element would be alright.

"It's fine, Vashlani. Just promise you won't cast one from your element, at least until we can get some better stuff. One thing we did find out, though, the practice rounds didn't get through that shield you erected." Shepard grinned at him; it made him feel slightly better to know she wasn't angry with him.

"We learned more than that, Shepard. The readout from the drone, before he blew it up, showed his attacks would work against the Geth, it was almost as if those balls of lightning were overloads. When we get the chance we need to get some merc armor and set it up on a dummy. See if it can get through the suits shields. We also need a biotic. I thought Kaidan, but after seeing what happened to the drone ..."

"The things that hit Vashlani, they are what you call practice rounds?" He asked as he dumped a handful of debris in a canister. Tali nodded. "Hmm, they did penetrate the ward shield. It startled me. That is why the first time I tried to cast the summons it failed. It was a layer of mage armor that stopped those practice rounds." He shifted a bit, held up a hand and recast the Ironflesh spell. His body glowed with a subtle silvery color. "This is what mages use as armor instead of the usual leather or metal armor. Some will cast this while wearing the real armor to add yet another layer, but those mages train in the art of battle, and it is not as powerful as if we use it with our clothing or robes. Vashlani wasn't trained as such. Vashlani's Master taught him healing and protection, defense. Our lands aren't safe, especially for a lone khajiit."

"We can help train you if you want, should you decide you want to come on missions with us, even if it is to heal and do that summons thing. If all you would feel comfortable with is to remain on board and treat injuries that's okay. The choice is yours to make, Vashlani. The fighters on here are some of the best I have ever met. If you want to go along, let me know. Garrus and Tali had already asked that I get you a set of armor made so they can start modifying it. Even if it is only to wear during your practice here." Shepard smiled at him and saw the way the others nodded at him giving him their agreement should he decide to help.

"We do need to talk to the other biotics. Wrex here has them, but they aren't like an Asari's. Kaidan can peak pretty high in power, but it doesn't last long." She gave her hand a wave, "We'll think of something. But first, we have to get you armor. A drone is a lot different than one of these guys. That way you can test it out with and without that spell of yours. Especially since we don't know for a fact that it will react to this, um, space armor as it does with your worlds armor."

"Commander, sorry to interrupt but we are two hours from our destination." Joker let her know, as was her preference to be told, so they had time to ready themselves.

"When we get back, I'll take you to meet Liara then we'll talk more. The armor should be available when we reach the Citadel. It's how we're going to sneak you on the Citadel that's still up in the air. We can't let anyone find out about you. Wrex and Garrus, you're up, grab your gear."

 

* * *

 

Vashlani sat in the chair next to Joker and looked at the cameras view of the planet they were orbiting. Shepard had gone down there to check a report on missing marines for a different Admiral. He was happily chewing on taffy when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He leaned over the arm of the chair and saw Kaidan standing on the bridge between the seats where the two ensigns were currently busy, running scans and monitoring communications.

"Vashlani, I just wanted to apologize for the bottles."

"Garrus made those phials for Vashlani. I was more upset that you discarded my gift of help. If Kaidan didn't want my potions, it would have been better to tell this khajiit. Vashlani has to horde the ingredients to make them. I can't just go home to buy more, you know." Vashlani's eyes had started to glow, and his whiskers twitched. He waited a moment then ate another piece of his candy before he turned back to the screen in front of him. His tail twitched as he heard Joker choke back his laughter.

Vashlani opened his bag and handed Joker a small sack. "I made this for Joker. He is Vashlani's friend and hopes he likes it." Kaidan watched as Joker opened the small, flour-cloth sack and withdrew something that smelled sweet.

"What is it?" Joker asked as the fragrance of it started to fill the bridge.

"Vashlani made you a snowberry and lavender dumpling. It was Master's favorite." He smiled at Joker and purred.

He watched as Joker bit off a corner, "Damn this is even better than those honey ball things you gave me." He proceeded to eat the dumpling as the others looked on.

"Vashlani will make honey nut treats for others on the bridge later. He needs to make more butter to bake them first."

Joker looked over at him with his mouth open and a questioning look on his face then shrugged. He was smart enough not to ask him where he got this stuff from or run the risk of not getting any more. He finished his dumpling with a small burp.

 

* * *

 

Tali called Shepard and Vashlani down to the fabricator after the mission. Tali showed them a picture on the extranet of an outfit a desert tribe wears from Earth. "Look Shepard, everything but the eyes are covered on this. We can change it a bit, add gloves and maybe some form of a visor."

She didn't notice Shepard snickering. "Tali, you know those are for females right?"

"What?" She quickly scrolled past the image and read the actual information, "Oh, Keelah, I am so sorry that I didn't read it all first, Vashlani. I thought this would work to sneak you on the Citadel."

Garrus walked over to them. "Why not just pick up the armor for him and just have him wear it. The modifications we need to make won't take long. It's mainly adding the exoskeleton for the tail, reshaping the toes on the turian boots, and removing the spur protectors. Then shaping the helmet to allow for his ears."

Tali looked up at him, "The tail Garrus, how do we hide the tail?"

"What about a cloak? Vashlani has several." He pulled his bag off and opened it up, reaching inside of it. He gave a smile and pulled out one of the College's hooded cloaks. No one asked him how he kept all that stuff in that one backpack.

"The hood will hide the modded helmet," Tali said as she gingerly took the covering from him.

"Vashlani's tail is longer than the cloak but not by much. Maybe you can do something?" He took the cloak back and put it on. He turned around, and they saw the last 4 inches of his tail flicking at the bottom.

"We can add turian fabric. It's about the same weight as this. Or make a new one from it. That might be better. Hmm, we will need you suited up to get the right measurements since it will add bulk to you." Tali twitched the cloak a bit then stepped back.

"You will make a cloak for Vashlani? Of materials from this place?"

Tali nodded, her eyes crinkled behind her mask. "Sure, we just need some information and the fabrics." They laughed at the purr that came from him. They had guessed Vashlani liked clothes, considering he had yet to wear the same thing twice.

 

* * *

 

Vashlani was asleep when the pad gave the chime signaling a new mail. He yawned and cast a candlelight spell before picking up the pad.

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net  
From: BDPiTG_Joker@Normandy.net

We will be entering the relay that will take us to the Citadel in thirty minutes. Hurry up and get to the bridge; you aren't going to want to miss this. You'll love the view.

~*~

He sent a reply back, skipped his morning shower, hurriedly dressed and grabbed his pack. When he was back on the Normandy, he hurried up the stairs to the CIC deck, noticing a lot more activity and smiles than normal, called out his good mornings and headed for the chair Vashlani usually occupied when he was up here.

"You just made it in time, Vash," Joker said as he turned on the outside cameras and remembered to dim the display to help his eyes. Vashlani dropped his bag at his feet then settled into the chair, so he could watch as the relay came closer. This time, when they entered the relay, he was able to keep his eyes open. In the flashes of blues and purples, he could see the stars light up as they passed them. It gave him a slight headache at first but it was over in a few seconds, and everything came back into sharper focus as they exited the other relay.

He gave a laugh and Joker smiled at him, "If you liked that wait till you get your first sight of the Citadel, we'd be within viewing range in less than 10 minutes so sit tight."

As they drew closer to the large structure, Joker used the console to darken the transparent panels a bit more. "In a few minutes, we will be entering a high traffic area. Normally I would just have the shutters closed, but with you here, I'll keep them open. The darkness of the panels will keep anyone that uses a magnifying camera from getting a close look inside here, so you can go and look out the actual windows instead of the camera view. I think you may like that even better. Everyone remembers their first view of this place."

When Vashlani noticed movement outside the ship, he went to look at the window and saw what must have been starships, like the Normandy. Only they were different shapes and sizes. A huge one came toward them, and Vashlani gave a startled cry as it passed a little above him. He thought it might hit them at first. "Don't worry, Vash. I know what I'm doing. That ship that just went over us was called the Destiny Ascension. It's an asari Dreadnought. It's said to be operated by about ten thousand asari. Those types of ships are the largest ones in most races military. Their looks and build are different for each race. The Normandy is called a frigate class."

The ensign that was beside him tapped him on the arm then pointed out the window to a green and yellow ship, "do you see that one? It is a salarian owned frigate, almost the same size as us. For comparison purposes to that of the asari ship." She continued to point out different types of ships to him telling him what they were and which race built them.

"Commander, we're coming up on the Citadel now. You have the comm for any announcements." Joker said to her then pointed out the front panel as he started to prep for docking. Vashlani almost bowled him over in his chair to get as close to the windowpane as he could. Joker started laughing and told him any closer, and he'd be having to wipe nose prints from the panel. Vashlani knocked Joker's cap off with a flick of his tail and laughed as Joker tried to catch it before it landed on the floor.

"Hey now, watch it, that cap is sacred." Joker laughed as he said it, a smile on his face as he watched Vashlani taking in his first view of the Citadel. He snickered as Vashlani moved from panel to panel to watch the other ships then run back to the front. The khajiit stopped long enough to grab his datapad and started to snap holos. He frowned when he looked at them; they were all too dark.

"Don't worry buddy, once we get docked I'll send you a vid I think you will like," Joker told him then showed him how to delete the holos that he had taken.

The whole docking process took about two hours. Two very long hours for the bridge crew as they had to deal with their job, Vashlani running everywhere and the millions of questions he asked. No one complained because he seemed like a wonderstruck child, a huge smile on his face and a thank you. Shepard came up to the bridge a few minutes after they had completed their docking procedures.

"Vashlani, Tali, and Garrus will be heading out to pick up your armor. They'll be back soon to get started on the modifications. Listen, I know I don't have the right to tell you what to do. But I want you to go to your room and stay until they send you a message. It is extremely dangerous here for you. If anyone should see you, well, I don't know if we can keep them from taking you from the ship. While docked, do not go near any of the doors outside or window panels. Stay on the ship unless you are with several of us and fully covered by that cloak. Keep your pad nearby, and we will send you a message if something is wrong. A good portion of the crew leaves for a few hours, and then they rotate so others can go ashore."

Vashlani looked at her. "This is for Vashlani's safety, so he will do as you say, but Vashlani will be able to go with you to see this Citadel?"

"Yes, if we can make sure it is safe enough for you to go out, but you must also listen and stay with us. Don't wander off, though. Millions of people live here, and not all of them are nice. It is dangerous, and I can't stress that enough, Vashlani." She watched him slowly nod, then patted his shoulder and waited as Garrus and Tali finally made their way to the bridge. They assured him they would be back as soon as they could. Vashlani headed back to his room and sat on his cot.

"Rear Admiral Mikhailovich, a surprise inspection of the Normandy is highly unusual. May I ask for what reason you want to go aboard a vessel that has been assigned to a Council Spectre to perform Council business?" Shepard stood in front of the man and waited for an answer. She noticed Tali move off to the side and pretend to look at the scenery but instead saw her opening her omni tool to type out a quick warning.

Vashlani looked down at his pad and saw the incoming message:

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net  
From: ShotgunDiva@Normandy.net

Vashlani, there's a problem. Someone wants to come on board. You need to find someplace to hide. Not in a room, must be out of the way. Quick, Shepard can't keep them busy for too much longer.

~*~

He read the message then slipped on his ring and entered the bag.

To: ShotgunDiva@Normandy.net  
From: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

This khajiit is someplace where no one can see him. I am safe, Tali. Thank you. Please message me when you return, and it is safe to come out of hiding.

~*~

Vashlani sent the message then went to his kitchen. He needed to make some butter for the honey nut treats and now was as good a time as any.

Tali gave a slight nod as she walked back to stand next to Shepard and started to tap her foot.

"This ship was supposed to be mine. It was commissioned for the 63rd Scout Flotilla until it was arbitrarily handed over to the Council. I am here to make an inspection, to see what you have done to the Alliance prototype, for the report I'll be submitting to the Alliance Defense Committee. The Normandy is a warship not a cruise ship for the Council."

Shepard narrowed her eyes at him, "well, Admiral, as a Spectre and as this is classified now as a Spectre's ship, and I do not have to let you on board. I will do so this once so that you can do your ... "inspection." As I am on Council business, I expect you not to dawdle and as you know, everything on board is considered classified information." She dared him to say a word; he may outrank her in the Alliance but as she was a Spectre she held complete autonomy and was answerable only to the Citadel Council. She watched him puff out his chest like a rooster and strut toward the ship. Once the outer airlock doors closed, she looked at Tali.

"He said he was somewhere safe. I believe him, all things considered." Tali said as they stood and waited for the Admiral to return. When he finally did the first thing out of his mouth was complaints about aliens being on board and how they were a security risk. Shepard reminded him that the ship was a joint build adventure between the turians and humans and it showed how humans and nonhumans could work together to complete a technological marvel.

Then he complained about the costs of the eezo and how the Tantalus Core was a waste of credits. The Alliance could have built many more warships for the same price as that one drive. She then reminded him that the stealth drive would enable them to enter and remain in enemy territory much longer than just a typical ship would. If it proved reliable, then she had no doubt the Alliance would find a way to make them more cost effective.

Then came the design flaws, she reminded him, again, that it was a joint build, and that's how the Turians did it, and the Alliance wanted to see if it would work well for their use. So far she was more than happy with the design as it brought her down closer to the workers so she could keep an eye on them and receive reports faster that way. She then waited for more nonsense to spout from him, but the Rear Admiral seemed to have run out of things to complain about so he muttered that his report would be made soon and he guessed it wouldn't be as negative as he originally thought.

Garrus waited until the Admiral had entered the lift, "Well, that was a spectacular waste of time. At least we know he didn't spot Vashlani."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.

* * *

 

 

Tali and Garrus were at the fabricator working to make the modifications to the gear. They had ordered him a light armor all in white so he could use the color customization unit to suit him. Garrus ran the updates to the measurements, and they loaded the needed materials into the machine. They watched as the light grid came down and ran over the helmet as it was, then start to rebuild it, the ears and the electronics inside of the helmet were made or moved, the face of the helmet was extended out slightly and was blacked out, just like a quarian's was. Then while he had the tail added to the body suit and the under armor, Tali took the helmet and ran the diagnostics on it to make sure everything functioned properly. They finished everything before sending Vashlani a message.

**~*~**

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net  
From: ShotgunDiva@Normandy.net

Vashlani, Garrus and I are down in the cargo bay, just follow the directions that I sent in this email. We finished up your suit; it's ready for you. We will need to get measurements for your cloak.

His reply was almost immediate.

To: ShotgunDiva@Normandy.net  
From: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

Vashlani thanks you both, and he will be there as soon as he finishes putting his butter into the molds and the honey balls finish baking. I will send you a new message.

**~*~**

Tali showed Garrus the message, and he scratched his crest, "Maybe it's some khajiit code? Like he's going to the bathroom or something and just didn't want to put that in writing." She just shrugged and tried not to dwell on it too much. Ten minutes later a message came then they saw him hurrying their way.

"Vashlani is sorry he kept you waiting." He pulled off his pack and reached in, pulling out a tiny pouch and handing it to Garrus. "For you, as thank you for making this khajiit more phials."

Garrus opened the tiny bag and dumped the contents out, several pieces of blue taffy fell into his hand. "Is this...?"

Vashlani nodded, "Khajiit Moon Sugar Taffy, a special blend for Garrus." He anxiously watched as Garrus put all but one piece back into the bag and tuck it into his armor. Garrus sniffed the candy and touched the tip of his tongue to it.

"Hmm, sweet. There's a scent to it I don't know."

Vashlani nodded, "It's a blend of lavender and blue mountain flowers. Vashlani didn't use the typical ingredients as Healer said they could make you ill, so I used khajiit ones, along with the flowers from Skyrim. I will try to find a way to make more and use the common ingredients so Vashlani can give you more than a few pieces at a time."

"I think we can help you there as well. The Citadel has ingredients and foods from every race that is part of the galactic community," Garrus told him then cautiously put the piece of candy in his mouth. Tali watched him carefully as her omni tool scanned him.

"Mmm, hey that's pretty damn good candy, Vashlani. Thanks." Garrus turned from him to see Tali holding out her hand. "What?" She hit him while calling him a bosh'tet.

They told him he would need to change from the clothes he had on to the particular under armor. He dropped the bag and started to strip when he heard a yell from near where Wrex stood. "For the love of God, what's that thing think he's doing?" He stopped and lowered his shirt back down as he looked at the floor.

"He's doing what the rest of us do when we are down here getting ready to go on a mission, swapping out his clothes for his armor. Same as you do, same as Shepard and Kaidan does. The same as I do." Garrus growled back at her, and Wrex even pushed off from the crate he leaned against and took several steps toward her.

"Come on Vashlani; Shepard has a locker ready for your stuff. Let's put your bag inside and you can finish putting on your armor," Tali crooned to him and sent a glare to the human, even though she knew Ashley wouldn't see it. After she showed him how to open it, she moved a bit away as Wrex inserted himself between Vashlani and Ashley. Wrex started rooting through his locker; or pretended too.

Garrus heard him utter, "Don't mind the human, Cub."

Wrex laughed when Vashlani tried to get the suit on. "Come on, you stupid tail," Vashlani muttered as he tried to get his tail in the opening of the under armor. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of cursing and jumping happening on the other side of Wrex while the huge Krogan stood there and laughed. Finally, Vashlani came around to them wearing the form-fitting black suit.

He wiggled around and they waited until he stopped to ask what was wrong. "Vashlani couldn't fix his fur in some places, and it's not laying right. This suit doesn't feel good." Garrus rubbed his crest; he hadn't thought about that problem.

"What if we change it from one piece to one with multiple parts that have a micro zipper in it? They cost a bit more, but I doubt Shepard would mind." Garrus thought about it and nodded. Tali went to order the separate pieces in Vashlani's size.

While they waited for the delivery, they showed him how to put on the outer suit and helmet. They noted a few changes that needed to be made, mainly giving his ears a bit more room as they needed to swivel. They put in the new measurements for his cloak and waited. Joker let them know a delivery had arrived, and Garrus went to get it and bring it down to the armory. They got him out of the hard suit, set the new bottom piece of the under armor into the machine and waited as it formed the tail piece and zipper. So back he went with Wrex helping to remove the other suit.

"That's better. It's like putting on my regular clothing, but these zipper things are new." Garrus came around and showed him how they worked and finally he was in his suit. Tali handed him a black hooded cape, and they made sure it completely covered his tail. She had designed it with a female quarian style hood with magnets in it to keep it from falling away from the helmet or from falling too far forward and blocking his visor. The length left several inches between the end of his tail and the floor so no one would step on it and had a gray design embossed on the fabric.

They spent two hours going over everything that his suit had, from the shield generators to the enhanced optics and sound. Garrus showed him how to sync his suit to his Normandy account, and then Tali transferred her account protection suite to him.

"When we get back we will show you the coloring machine so you can make your suit just how you want it to look. Shepard uses it all the time for her armor." Garrus told him as they started to walk toward the lift. Vashlani lagged as they walked since he had to get used to the added weight and he kept looking at everything through the enhanced HUD and inevitable ran into or tripped on something.

"Guys, Shepard's back, and she's brought a cook. The old one's being shown off the ship now, and Shepard threatened him to keep his mouth shut about Vash. She told him if he so much as breathed his name she would hunt him down and force feed him the slop he'd been feeding the rest of us. She apparently found the stash of food that he had been eating."

"We're working our way up to the bridge now, Joker. Vashlani's just getting used to the suit," Garrus let out another snort as Vashlani tripped over a small cable lying on the floor because he was too busy looking up at the ceiling and turning the helmet's flashlight on and off as he walked.

 

* * *

 

Shepard introduced them to the new cook, "Joker, Tali, Garrus and Vashlani this is the new chef, Mr. Samesh Bhatia. I helped him a while ago with an issue he was having, and when he overheard me requesting a new cook, he asked if he could join to repay us for the help. He is aware this is a classified mission and knows what that entails."

"Man, I hope you can cook, 'cuz other than the few things Vash here gave us, we've all been starving. Think most of us have been surviving on the stomach meds that the Doc would give us after each meal. Have fun on the Citadel Vash, when you get back to the ship check your folder; there's a little something in there for you," Joker said right before he turned to make his way back up to the bridge.

"Guys, just give me a few minutes to get him set up then we can go. We'll be here for two days while he goes through the supplies and places the restock order. I'll be up in a few minutes wait for me on the dock."

When they took Vashlani outside the ship for the first time, Garrus and Tali stayed right beside him in case he passed out again. Shepard had told them of his reaction when he had first found out they were in space. But instead of passing out he tried to take in everything at once. He turned toward the ship and backed up as far as he could to see it. Then something green caught his eye and started to run towards it. Garrus was able to grab him right before he made it to the keeper. "Nope, can't do it. It's illegal to bother them, and they will explode if you touch them. So look but don't touch."

 

* * *

 

They wandered throughout the less crowded wards at first, those that were mainly housing and a few business areas. Then they took Vashlani to the busier areas, the tourist spots where they spent a few hours so he could get holos of everyone and the area. They were passing through the Presidium heading toward the financial district when they heard an argument. Vashlani turned toward it and stopped. They barely caught up to him as he went running toward the two that were arguing.

He stared at the hanar in what must have been fascination because they had to repeat themselves to get his attention. Of course, the hanar thought the stranger in the armor wanted to hear about the Enkindlers, all the while the C-Sec officer yelled that it was illegal for the hanar to preach on the Presidium. Shepard stepped in, bought the hanar a license if it agreed to follow the rules of the Citadel and no longer preached in the restricted areas. It agreed and floated off. Garrus had to grab Vashlani to keep him from following the jellyfish. The C-Sec officer gave them a few credits and went back to patrolling the area.

"What the hell so fascinated you about that hanar?" Shepard asked Vashlani as they walked across the bridge.

"It looked delicious and Vashlani kept trying to figure out how to get it to the kitchen and what spices to use to make it into a tasty stew." After they had stopped laughing, they explained that the Hanar were a sapient species and not to be cooked. He hung his head and dragged his feet the rest of the way across the bridge, well until something once again caught his eye, and they raced after him to keep him out of trouble.

 

* * *

 

Vashlani and Garrus carried bulging sacks of dextro groceries, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and a few types of meat, but Vashlani was more interested in items that could grow. Garrus had started to ask him why then changed his mind. Instead, he watched as Vashlani picked out one of each thing then carefully took a holo and labeled it. He asked if there was any way Garrus could get him information on if it grows from seeds or in a different way. Garrus shrugged at him and told him he'd work on it.

As soon as Garrus dropped the bags he carried on Vashlani's cot and left; the khajiit got as good a grip on them as he could then entered his pocket bag. The next hour was spent down in the cellar, carefully noting one item into the ledger at a time and placing the item in the food box. Each time he did, the sphere let out a small puff of steam. Once it was all added to the crate, he tested to make sure the new items had registered properly for the sphere's sorting and the magic of the box.

The next day was similar to the previous one. After he had eaten he met them down in the cargo hold where Shepard taught him how to use the color machine, then while he spent most of the morning with that, she took care of other business. A few hours exploring one of the other wards then everyone started to filter back to the ship, they would be leaving in less than six hours.

 

* * *

 

Shepard called them all into the meeting room, and Vashlani was up on the bridge. She still had yet to decide if she wanted to bring him on the mission. "Our next destination is the colony on Feros. Apparently, they built the colony on an old Prothean ruin. So Liara you will be one of the ground team, we'll need your expertise down there. According to what Anderson told me, there have been reports of a geth attack. So Garrus you'll be there as well, other than Tali you have the most experience with the synthetics, but you have long range capabilities. When we get there and see the actual site and what we are up against, I may send for the secondary unit to come in to protect the colony."

"Shepard, what about Vashlani, if we're going against synthetics his lightning attacks would be stronger than overloads. We have yet to see his more powerful skills, but if Vashlani can do to the geth what he did to that poor drone, he could be a real asset; if he's willing to go. Injuries to the colonists could be dealt with as well," Garrus said to her from the chair he had appropriated as his own the moment they had first used the room.

"Liara hasn't been introduced to him yet, between her recovery and the trip to the Citadel, there hadn't been much time," Kaidan interjected from the other side.

Tali laughed, "He spent what time he had down in front of the machines. Wrex said he would color his armor, take it out, wear it long enough to ask him to take a holo then strip it off and color it again. He was like a child in a toy store."

Shepard gave a gentle smile to the quarian, "Everything is new to him, so yeah. He is like a small child learning and seeing amazing things for the first time. Just not sure if he would be ready to deal with enemies trying to kill him."

"You have to let the Cub cut his teeth at some time, Shepard. No better time than when he is with two of the people he trusts the most on here, well other than Doc and Joker," Wrex said from the other side of the room. Shepard crossed her arms and thought it out while looking at the Feros data scroll down the holo-screen.

"Joker, is Vashlani still up there with you?" When Joker replied in the affirmative, she straightened. "Vashlani, please come to the meeting room. It's the door behind the large screen on the CIC deck."

"Oh, that one's always locked. Vashlani will be right there, Shepard." Garrus gave out a snort. It's a well-known fact that Vashlani had tried to open every door on the Normandy. Often getting lost on several decks and sending him messages asking for directions, Garrus finally told him that all he needed to do was to call out for the VI and ask for guiding lights.

"Liara, a quick reminder. Everything on board the Normandy is classified. Sharing or repeating of data is not allowed, that also included the crewmembers even for scientific reasons."

Liara looked at her and nodded; she learned that when she had fumbled with Shepard the first time she tried to talk to her. She hadn't spent any time around humans and had made it sound like she wanted to dissect Shepard for study or had only wanted to talk to her because of the knowledge of the Protheans she had carried in her head.

Liara's head turned toward the door as they heard it open. She expected to see another human walk through the door. When she saw the furry being with a long tail, she promptly fell out of her chair.

"What's with people passing out on this ship?" Shepard muttered when she went to check on Liara.

When the asari had recovered enough, they helped her to the chair and she met Vashlani. She started to ask him questions he didn't feel comfortable with and he backed away from her. He moved to the other side of the room and sat on an empty chair. Shepard told her it was enough; some things were private and not open for discussion. Liara apologized and Vashlani gave a slight nod and Shepard told Vashlani why she called him back.

"These, geth, they are machines? Like the Dwemer used?"

Of course, no one knew what a Dwemer was, so Tali stood up and used her omni tool to make a holographic representation of a geth trooper. "They are synthetic but intelligent. The more there are nearby, the smarter they become, and more dangerous."

"Shepard thinks my spells would be of use against these... geth?" He asked as he continued to look at the holo. He reached out to try and touch it, only to have his hand pass through it.

"Yes, it will also be an opportunity for you to use the bigger spells so I can get a better feel of what team you would do well in, that is if you wanted to join. Since you are not part of the Alliance nor do we have an agreement like I do with the others, the final decision is yours."

"I will join you. I would like to see the geth. It looks like this khajiit will not be able to go home and would like to be of use." Vashlani told her.

She walked over to him, "You have more than already earned a place on the Normandy. From the healing, you have given to us, and for the help you have provided to Joker."

"Don't forget about the candy," Garrus called out, barely budging when Tali shoved him. He still hadn't given her a piece of the taffy yet, and for some reason, Vashlani said he couldn't make her any.

"Alright, two hours people, get your gear and weapons ready."

 

* * *

 

Vashlani went to his room and shut the door, then locked it before Liara could follow him inside his room. The strange looking woman asked more questions than he did. He went into his bag and gathered health potions and magicka potions, along with their regenerative alternatives. Then he took the cloak they made him to the enchanter. He had been ecstatic when the armor pieces they made for him were able to hold enchants and quite substantial ones too. He put it down to the type and quality of the materials used. He had never encountered anything like it before in Tamriel.

When Vashlani returned he headed for the colorize machine, he needed to change the color to match the tabard he picked out for the mission. He had made several at the fabricator after he asked Tali to show him how it worked.

Vashlani hummed to himself as he watched the machine change the scheme to the blue and purple one he had made and felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. Several of the crew were standing there, including Joker and Chakwas.

"Since you have agreed to become a member of the ground crew and have become a valued member of the Normandy, I would like to present to you, your tag. It represents your commitment to us and ours to you." Shepard held a small box in her hand and opened it. Vashlani looked around and saw matching tags showing on necklaces around each of them. "On this tag is your identification code and name along with the name of your assigned vessel. "

She flipped the piece of metal over and embossed on the other side was the symbol of the College of Winterhold. "This symbol was on the cloak you had shown to Tali. You said it was for the College you were at, so we used this one as your symbol." She turned hers over to show the N7 symbol; Garrus showed him the turian Hierarchy, Wrex showed him the symbol of House Urdnot. One after the other they showed him their symbols.

She carefully pulled out the necklace and held the box out to Joker. "Welcome to the Normandy family. We may be a bunch of misfits, but we're one hell of a bunch of ass kicking misfits." She placed it around his neck and gave his shoulders a squeeze. His big blue eyes were blinking at everyone around him, trying not to let his tears of happiness fall as they congratulated him, he had started to feel like he may have a family again. Joker said it was holo time, and they all jammed together while they had one of the Engineering crew snap several holos.

After he had put on his armor, they all stood around and asked him about the glowing. He was hesitant but told them he added permanent spells to the pieces to help him power up his spells and recover faster.

"Commander, the docking requests aren't being answered. Nor is there any chatter on any of the channels. What are your orders?"

"Go into the closest dock, nice and easy. Access the remote docking procedures. When we exit, lock the Normandy down."

They picked up their weapons from Ashley, and when they turned around, Vashlani stood there with a staff that was taller than he was. After a moment of silence with each of them wondering where the hell it had come from they just turned and headed for the airlock. Vashlani following behind them, hearing Liara start to ask more questions and Shepard just telling her it was classified.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy. Thank you to those still reading this story and hope you are enjoying it. I do appreciate all the kind comments and kudos that are left for me.

* * *

 

 

The loud report of the weapon, that Garrus had used to blow the head off the geth that had just killed a man at the dock, frightened Vashlani. He was already nervous. Protecting their homestead from bandits and the occasional bear or sabrecat or defending himself as he traveled the road to the town from wolves and thieves was one thing, actually having to initiate the fights was another. But this was a different world than his own, and he needed to adjust faster.

"You alright there, Vashlani?" Garrus asked him as they made their way up the ramp. Vashlani had stopped and looked up; he could have sworn he had seen something moving.

"This khajiit thought he saw something in the shadows." They continued moving again.

Several geth troopers came around the corner, and they all fired at them. Several bolts of lightning flew over Liara's head, and she screamed as she ducked. She missed the way the geth exploded when the bolts impacted against it. "Liara may not want to stand or stop directly in front of Vashlani." She looked up and saw his hands and body bathed in lightning as he dual cast his spells again at one of the rocket launchers. When it went up in a ball of flames, it also damaged the surrounding geth enough that several shots from Shepard and Garrus took them down.

After they had eliminated the enemies, Shepard turned to him. "One of your bigger spells?"

He shook his head, "Nope. A small one." He pulled his staff off his back as they started to walk again. "Vashlani has been practicing when he can, so he can get strong enough to start to learn the spells that his Master knew but that's going to take a while. Vashlani still has much to learn."

He stopped again and peered up into the shadows near the ceiling. "There's something there." The others watched as his eyes behind the darkened visor lit up, they glowed with an eerie light. "Shepard, there are more of those things in the shadows, hopping around." He flicked his hand and set a ball of lightning toward the ceiling. They heard it impact, and a strange looking geth fell from the rafters, quickly followed by several more.

"Get back!" Vashlani yelled, and they all dove behind him as he sent out another spell. This one sent lightning from one of the hoppers to the other. The impact stopping them long enough for the others to use their weapons or Liara to hit it with a lift to hold it suspended in the air long enough for the spell to destroy it.

Vashlani looked at her, "You have magic too?"

Liara let out a laugh, "They are called biotics and nothing like what you have."

When they finally made it to the top of the ramp, they saw the group of make-shift buildings that made up the colony. Shepard stopped and listened to the two colonists that were arguing about who was to look for the geth. Garrus looked around and pointed out that they were actually inside a downed ship, most likely a freighter from the size of the area.

They worked their way along the area. The people seemed to be busy as all they said was to talk with their leader. Several times they noticed Vashlani stop and look at a single person here and there before starting to walk again. They finally found this leader, Fai Dan, who stood and talked with another person. Vashlani let out a soft hiss that was heard by Garrus when the woman scoffed at Shepard for only bringing a handful of people and how late they were. Garrus placed a hand on his shoulder as he saw a slight glow start around the khajiit's hand.

Fai Dan was in the middle of rebuking the woman when more geth attacked. Everyone dove for cover, and as Liara hit them with a lift, Vashlani sent in several sparks that caused them to explode in mid-air.

The woman scowled at them and told them if they were there to help the colony then to go to the tower where the geth were coming from and do something about it. They moved past her and Vashlani looked at the woman. He got the feeling something was wrong with this entire area not just the machines being here.

"Shepard. These men smell different to me. Khajiit does not know why, though," he said to her over their linked comms.

"What do you mean, Vashlani?" Garrus asked as they cautiously moved into a different area and were attacked by more geth.

When the fighting was over Vashlani tried to explain. "Men smell a certain way to me, doesn't matter if male or female, young or old. They smell of man. You smell different; one Vashlani now associates with your kind after going to the Citadel. But these people. Their smell is . . . different. Man yet not fully man, like something else is there as well."

Shepard thought about it as they moved up another set of steps and stopped near a lift. "Alright, keep your guard up around all of them until Vashlani can figure it out or until we stumble across what's causing it." She tapped the button, but nothing happened. "This should lead to the skyway. Guess the power is down in this part ... or something."

She turned back towards where their initial direction and started forward again. After several more fights, they entered a large room with part of the ceiling collapsed, through the massive hole they spotted a geth dropship. "Spread out and watch yourself."

"Shepard, that's another damn juggernaut," Garrus called out over the comm when a large red geth unit dropped right before the ship left.

Geth troopers spotted them, so Shepard didn't have time to answer.

Liara saw a flash beside her and stopped for a moment to watch Vashlani's smooth movements. His hands had a different glow on each them, and his body shone, surrounded by light then another flash further down the room caught her attention and a large white creature formed. Her suit registered a freezing drop in temperature around the thing. Then she saw it start to hit the closest opponents, freezing them. They all heard him yelling out strange words when the thing shattered after the juggernaut hit it with several rockets.

When only several destroyers and that juggernaut were left, Vashlani moved up near Shepard. "Everyone stay behind Shepard." Garrus was already behind her but covered Liara as she moved back behind a new cover. Vashlani stood up and pointed to the floor in the middle of the room where the geth were beginning to move toward them. He ducked, and not more than two seconds later an explosion rocked the area bringing loose debris down from the ceiling. They saw both the destroyers stood where that bright spot used to be and they shook but didn't move. All of them opened up with whatever weapons they had.

Only the large red unit that still headed toward them while firing off rockets was left. Garrus hit it with an overload while the others used their weapons, Vashlani moved around touching them with a healing touch. Shepard used a grenade and it finally went down with several clicks and a horrible screeching sound.

They looked around, found a few useful mods that they were able to take off the geth weapons. Garrus hacked the terminal at the end of the room, he found an open account and transferred the credits to his omni tool and an upgrade kit. Shepard also filled the team's medigel reserves. "Let's head back to the colony. Let them know the tower has been cleared."

 

* * *

 

Fai Dan seemed to be grateful for the tower but he told them the colony was in danger from the geth that were down in the tunnels, and with the geth down there they weren't able to repair needed things for the colony. He directed them to several people for more information. So as they moved around, Vashlani observed the people, still smelling the strange, cloying scent that each one gave off.

The salarian sold them a couple of new shotguns and a few licenses that he had for the companies he represented. The scent came from him as well, and Vashlani told them over their comms as they walked toward the one building. Garrus stopped and hacked into the terminal trying to find more intel on what may be causing the problem. Liara stayed on lookout while Shepard and Vashlani distracted the person standing in the hall.

The guy told them that the colony had started to run low on meat, and there was plenty of varren down in the tunnels but with the geth and the alpha varren they couldn't hunt them. When Garrus joined them, they told him they would do what they could. As they walked back out, they heard a woman talking in one of the rooms marked Medical. The woman's rambling was interrupted by her husband. Vashlani laid a hand on the woman and sent out a small healing pulse.

"This is not a disease. This khajiit can't heal the woman's affliction, Shepard. It is of the mind. She isn't hurt or diseased; she's fighting something that I cannot stop. I don't know what it is, but the smell is strong, and it's affecting everyone here," he told them as they continued to talk to more people and finding out what the colony needs immediately to help them survive. Once they spoke to everyone they moved back towards the tower area, but instead of going up they went down into the tunnels.

 

* * *

 

"Shepard, these must be the water control valves, it looks like the Geth shut them off." Garrus reached out and turned the first of the wheels, and they saw a light on a console turn green. "Looks like there are two more around here." Shepard rooted around the geth that they destroyed searching for anything usable and just gave him a grunt in response.

They found the last of the control valves as Vashlani sat on a piece of broken barricade. Liara leaned up against the wall near him. "Hey, are you two alright?" Shepard called out from where she picked over the weapons and items that were dropped by the geth.

"I am an archeologist Shepard, not a commando. The way you fight is rather fast paced. My biotics aren't as developed as theirs are," Liara told her and Shepard watched as she slid to the floor. Garrus looked over at them as well.

"Vashlani isn't used to fighting like this. Battles of mages are different than this. His magicka is fine, though. Just a bit tired."

 

* * *

 

They ran into a man that was rambled and acted insane in the tunnels, he told them about invoking the Master's whip, and that the geth are a thorn in the-- He started to scream again, and the others backed off.

"Fighting the call ... ARRGH ... won't give in," the man cried again. Vashlani reached out tentatively and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. His healing did no good.

"Shepard, the smell. This man is strong with the scent when he screams the scent grows stronger. Whatever it is, he's fighting the effects of it and it causes him pain, this khajiit can't do anything about it."

Shepard nodded at him, "Okay, everyone let's head back the other way, see if we can't find the rest of this crap and get rid of the geth."

They found a doorway and opened it after they stepped inside they heard the growling of large animals. A responding howl erupted from beside Vashlani, and the ghostly wolf ran into the pack of varren, tearing and growling. They found the remains of a rather large varren and Shepard noted that must be the alpha male. Garrus ran up the ramp and ran toward a large vehicle that was rather busted up and on fire at one end. He opened a hatch and pulled out several batteries, handing one to Shepard and one to Vashlani while he carried the other one.

They encountered a few more geth on the way back to Zhu's Hope. When they arrived, they delivered the goods and sold a few pieces of equipment or excess mods to the salarian.

After they had handed everything out, they started back to the lift that they had found earlier. The team helped a few colonist defeat a drone then boarded a Mako that was near the doorway that led out to the large bridge that would connect them to the Exo-Geni building.

Garrus helped Vashlani strap into the Mako, whispering to him to hold onto the straps tightly and not let go. That if he should get sick, the suit will take care of the issue and he shouldn't be embarrassed about it. Vashlani gave a worried purr then grabbed for the straps as the vehicle roared to life.

 

* * *

 

"Shepard, there is radio chatter from up ahead of us. It sounds like they can hear the Mako, so there are survivors on that side of the bridge." Garrus told her as she fired the Mako's smaller guns and Garrus used the large one to destroy the armature that fired on them from the end of the skyway.

Shepard pushed the pedal of the Mako sending them straight for the doorway in front of them. They skidded through, and she slowed down as the signal that Garrus had found grew stronger. He pointed to the opening off to the left and Shepard stopped the vehicle. They climbed out, Vashlani wobbled and collapsed against the side of it. He assured them he was alright, just shaken from the ride in that carriage.

The group of people at the bottom were a mix of ones that were employed by Exo-Geni, the leader was less than welcoming, and Shepard showed signs that she had become pissed at him. Finally, some of the others told them there were more geth over there. None of them would say what they worked on over there. A few asked them for favors, and one hoped they could find her daughter that was she thought had remained in the building.

They climbed back into the Mako and fought their way to the actual building. As they drew closer to the garage, they lost their radar. "The geth jammed the signals," Garrus said as he activated the external camera and aimed in front of the Mako. He would have to rely on sight to target them instead of the beacons. When the door of the garage opened, he open fired with the main gun. By the time Shepard pulled into the garage and came to a halt, the geth were nothing more than smoking piles of junk.

Garrus hacked a door, letting out a scoff at the weak encryption on it. They looked around the rest of area, finding a huge pit and a doorway that had a barrier on it. Vashlani touched and probed at the barrier then sent a small spark at it. When they couldn't find a switch, they agreed to go into the pit and see what's going on and eventually locate the generator to take that barrier down so they could leave.

 

* * *

 

They met the woman's daughter, who almost shot them. Shepard yelled at her to give her that damn gun before she hurt herself with it. The woman finally gave them a bit of information on what happened. When Shepard asked her if she knew what the geth might be after, Lizbeth mentioned something about a Thorian but didn't know much about it and handed them her security card. It would open doors that wouldn't open otherwise and allow them to access some terminals.

When they walked down into a large damaged area to get across to where another door was, they were attacked by several varren. When they saw several flashes of purple light flowing into a small pouch, hanging off of a leather cord that wrapped around Vashlani's waist, they asked him about it. When the next fight was over, they watched as he made a sheathing motion with the sword in his hand and it disappeared. As they walked toward the door, he told them that animals such as those dog like things could be, "harvested," to help him recharge things. They tried to ask more, and he just looked down and pulled the cloak tighter around him.

At one point they heard someone arguing with a VI. From the sound of the voice, Shepard said it was a Krogan. They quickly told Vashlani that fire worked better against one of them. He took his staff from his back then nodded, and they watched as his one hand became sheathed in flame. They worked their way up the stairs and heard the VI dismiss the krogan as not having the appropriate approved access for the information he requested and told him there were others behind him that were waiting for the system. The krogan turned and charged at Shepard. Vashlani met him with a burst of flame followed by several small balls of fire from the end of the staff that Vashlani pointed at him. The others dove for cover and started shooting at the krogan.

Shepard stood in front of the terminal trying to ignore the smoking corpse of the krogan blocking part of the stairs. "Discharging of a weapon inside of the company building is strictly forbidden and will be added to your record, Lizbeth Baynham." They all looked at each other, and then Shepard started to question the VI about what the krogan had tried to gain intel on and about the woman they had met earlier. They found out about the test subjects and this Thorian creature. They also learned that the woman knew a lot more than what she had told them.

"Son of a bitch. Those bastards let that creature take over the colony just to study the results; this must be why those people smelled differently to you, Vashlani." Shepard was not happy and made a recording of the information. They turned around and started back down the stairs. At least they now knew what caused them to try and break through the Normandy's airlock doors. Joker had called them in a panic and asked what he should do, and Shepard reminded him that unless he unlocked the hatch nothing could get through to them. They were just to sit tight, they were almost done and would be heading back soon.

They eventually found their way to a large open area where the geth ship had attached itself to the side of the building. After clearing the area, Shepard tried to find a way to detach the ship. Garrus pointed out that the pressurized doors were supposed to be undergoing maintenance. Shepard started to push several buttons finally building up enough pressure that the door slammed down and severed one of the hooks and a bunch of the cables that ran into the building. The ship wobbled, unable to stay attached with only the one hook and it finally tore away from the side of the building, falling into the mist covering the abyss of the planet.

"Alright, let's get back and see about this Thorian creature." Shepard found the barrier generator and heard the woman calling out as they entered the Mako. Shepard confronted her about the information as they shoved her inside the vehicle. Vashlani and Liara barely got the straps secured on themselves when Shepard stomped on the pedal, and they tore off back across the bridge heading for the weigh station.

When they stopped, they heard the woman's mother yelling that Exo-Geni wouldn't get away with something. They tried to keep the girl from running past the barricade and alerting them to the group's presence, but she slipped past Shepard before she could grab her. Shepard confronted Jeong, the representative from the Exo-Geni corporation. He tried to threaten Shepard with "things he found out" about her. She took a step closer to the pompous ass. He swallowed then told her that because they had finally got the communications back up and running that the company called for the purging of the colony, and she was to leave immediately.

Shepard took off her helmet and gave the little man a shark tooth grin. "Seriously? Really? Are you trying to threaten me? In your little research where you 'found things out about me,' did you happen to run across the data that says I am a Spectre? Hmm? That I can kill each and every one of your guards, and you and there is jack shit you can do? Do you think your piss ant little guards can stop one of my handpicked crew or me?" She started to laugh at him. "You're going to forget about purging these people, and you will contact your superiors and tell them that you have a better plan. You will say that you and the company should help the people, support the colony after all everyone likes a good surviving against all odds story. Good publicity."

He started to reach for his weapon and Shepard pushed harder on the gun that was already up against his balls, "Ah-ah, that isn't a good idea."

Lizbeth and her mother told her they had come up with a way to stop the colonists that were out of control. They handed her a mod for the grenades that she carried, one that would work on the plant part that controlled them and would knock them out for a while without killing them. They gave the intel to the guy that asked for the retrieval of his data. Shepard and the others glared at the Exo-Geni people as they headed for the Mako.

 

* * *

 

The ride across the bridge was just as brutal as it was the first time. Finally, the Mako came to a door on the other side, and Shepard pulled to a halt when the door didn't open. They cautiously got out of the vehicle and what looked like a lump of vegetation unfurled as it if was a geth and started to shamble toward them. When it was down Vashlani took a few steps toward it. "This is what Vashlani has been smelling, Shepard. Whatever this creature is, it has the same smell, only nothing of man in it."

"Alright, it looks like this Thorian creature can make creepy things. If they aren't human, then they can be killed outright. Don't kill the colonists. No weapons. Hand to hand only for the ones that the grenades miss. Vashlani, do you have anything that would just knock them out?"

He thought for a second before he told her he didn't. "Vashlani is not skilled in Illusion spells, those spells which can trick the mind. But this khajiit can brawl. Not as good as a warrior but should be able to handle it."

When they finally made it back to the colony, they had knocked out several of the colonists and Shepard was down to the last two grenades. So far they hadn't lost any of the colonists. She tossed one of the grenades at several of the grouped people. Shepard found a box with a few grenades in it and she continued to throw them as they went.

"Shepard, they're trying to keep us from getting to that area near the crane. The one where that woman refused to let us take a look to see if we could repair it. That has to be the key to finding this Thorian," Garrus said to her after he punched a man, knocking him backward over a bunch of crates. "You get the crane moving and we'll hold off the rest of them."

Garrus watched as Vashlani punched one of the colonists several times then backhanded another. Liara wasn't doing as well. She had resorted to using a singularity to keep any of the others from coming out of the one building, forcing them to come in a particular direction. When no more colonists came at them, Shepard headed for the controls, and Vashlani healed the others before healing himself.

When the crane started to move, it revealed an opening under the container. "Vashlani smells it. The scent is pungent from down there." They started forward when Fai Dan came around the corner carrying a pistol.

"The Thorian wants me to kill you, Shepard. Stop it." He raised the pistol and before anyone could say anything shot himself.

 

* * *

 

They took out their weapons and started down the steps. They didn't see anything until they came to a large open area with a huge mass hanging in the middle of an abyss. "That must be the Thorian." Shepard and Garrus both focused their weapons on the mass in the middle as it seemed to breathe and move.

As they got closer the Thorian undulated a bit more and appeared to expel a green skinned asari who told them that she was the mouthpiece of the Thorian since the ones that came before broke their promise, it had no use in talking with more meat bags. The green skin asari started to attack, and the creepers stood up as well. Liara yelled and used Throw at the asari; it was strong enough to knock the clone off the ramp. Once they cleared that room, Garrus pointed at something that he had spotted with his visor. They headed in that direction, and they saw what looked like a node attaching the Thorian to the walls.

"Garrus," Shepard said and didn't need to say anything more as the turian raised his sniper rifle and shot the node. When it exploded, they heard screeching coming from the Thorian. "Well, that seemed to hurt it. Let's move."

Several more times the green asari was produced and more creepers came at them. Liara got pretty good at throwing the clone off the ledge; she even did it to several creepers. Each time they cleared an area, Vashlani would heal them, and they would wait while their shields or barriers regenerated. Or in the case of Liara and Vashlani, their biotics and magicka would recharge. They saw him reach into a small pouch at his side several times and take out blue potions, the swirl of light engulf him before he would heal everyone.

They stopped and waited for their abilities to recharge, and Garrus hacked the medical terminal in the room, they continued after he finished. The last node was in front of them, and Garrus set up for the shot. Once the node exploded, they watched as the Thorian fell into the abyss. Shepard swung around when they heard something happening behind them. They hesitated as a blue asari fell out of a pod near them.

She started talking to them and Vashlani moved a bit closer. As carefully as he could, he sent a healing spell at her. They helped her to her feet and she told them that she held the cipher that was given to Saren and would share it with Shepard if she would accept the meld.

"Saren knows you are after him, and that you also know about the beacons and what they hold. Saren will do whatever he can to stop you, Commander." The asari, Shiala, told her as they helped her up the stairs and into the colony. They spoke to the now recovering colonists, Garrus stopping Vashlani from healing them. Telling him it was best if they used the medigel, they didn't want too many people to see him glowing and start to ask questions. They sold a few items to the salarian and Shiala said she wanted to stay at Zhu's Hope, to help repair the damage and to make up for what she and the others had done.

The group made their way tiredly back to the Normandy. Garrus showed Vashlani the unit for decontaminating his gear. Shepard told them all that the debrief would be in two hours. While the others went to eat and shower, Vashlani went to his room.

He dropped his tabard and cloak into the basket along with his clothes and stood under the hot shower scrubbing until he felt clean. It had been an exciting but tiring day. Seeing so many different things. Helping Shepard and an entire colony of people felt good. He purred as he redressed and headed back to the Normandy. He sat munching on a sandwich he made and watched as Liara helped Shepard to understand the cipher and the images in her head.


	14. Chapter 14

* * *

 

 

Shepard decided to do some small missions on the way to Noveria. While they did those missions, Vashlani practiced his spells and restocked his potions. They were getting used to him disappearing for a day or so. Currently, he was down in the room they had made him practicing his conjuration. Garrus was at the other end of the room with a rifle and when the light flashed they started. Vashlani cast a flame atronach spell while also casting his mage armor. Garrus dodged the fireballs being thrown at him as Vashlani summoned a bow.

They took a break, and he pulled out a tome from his bag and sat on a crate to read it. It contained a few new spells that he had practiced but hadn't been able to utilize them yet fully. Either they would fizzle or just not work. He was vague when he answered Garrus' questions about what he was reading. The turian got the hint. He knew Vashlani didn't share much about his magic often; he didn't blame the khajiit. Vashlani had told them stories about what some of the mages had done and even though he knew the knowledge would be useless to them he just wasn't ready to share it with them yet, at least not in any real detail.

"Vashlani will try this again. Maybe will work this time. Let me know when you are ready, Garrus."

Garrus jogged to the end of the area and raised his hand. "Ready when you are."

Vashlani took his time, his movements precise, then a red glow started in the center of the room where he had pointed. When the mist cleared, a being stood there. The black and red skinned humanoid had horns that curved around its head and wore heavy looking armor. It spotted Garrus and went charging for him; mace held high and shield held in front. "Burst, bloodsack!" it yelled as it charged.

"Garrus attack! If that Dremora reaches you, it will beat you to a bloody pulp!" Vashlani yelled out as he watched the being he had called from Oblivion run for his friend who seemed frozen in shock.

It was all Garrus could do to defeat the strange creature. He was startled to find a new being on the Normandy and running toward him until the shout from Vashlani warned him. He barely brought up his arm in time to deflect the blow from the weapon the strange creature carried. He rolled away from it, brought up his assault rifle and fired while he backed away from it. The thing barely stopped and kept yelling at him to die and to beg. It wouldn't give up. Finally, he either defeated it or the time ran out on it.

Vashlani ran to him and cast a healing. "Sorry, Garrus. Vashlani didn't think it would work; it was one of Master's old spells."

"Big one?" He let out a sigh as he saw Vashlani shake his head no. "You know, I'm beginning to fear what's going to happen when you do cast a big one." He laughed and slapped Vashlani on the shoulder as he picked himself up and took a look at the damage to his armor. "I'm going to have to put in for the use of the repair machine for this armor before the next mission; I'll see you later."

 

* * *

  
When Garrus came storming past him down in the cargo hold followed by Shepard, he wondered what had happened on the ship. He had overheard it was a personal mission for Garrus, but something went wrong apparently. He tried not to pay too much attention to them as they were talking animatedly beside the Mako on the other side of the room. Finally, Garrus seemed to calm down, and Shepard came over to change. He went back to poking the buttons on the coloring machine. They were now on the way to this place called Noveria, and he planned on wearing his red and gold tabard.

They held the debrief, and they all heard Vashlani muttered that he hated the cold, and that place reminded him of the frozen hold of Winterhold in Skyrim. "Since Saren is interested in this location we will assume geth. So for this one, I'll take Wrex and Tali. Vashlani if you wouldn't mind using your spells to cover the long distance aspect."

"This khajiit has spells, fire isn't my best element but can also cast shocks and conjure an atronach to help."

Shepard finished the meeting, and they separated to get ready. When Joker informed her of the trouble the station gave him on approach to the dock, she went up to the bridge. He told them they were there on Council business and had a Spectre on board. The person on the Noveria side of the conversation threw out more threats which had Shepard's teeth grinding. "Once we dock and are off the ship, lock her down. If they so much as breathe on the Normandy then shoot 'em all." Joker let out a laugh but set up some contingencies just in case someone thought they would try and take the ship.

Three guards approached them, two of which had rather bad attitudes and were stupid enough to threaten a Spectre. Shepard told them that no she wasn't giving up her weapon and good luck getting it from her. A voice came over the speaker telling the Captain to stand down that Shepard was indeed a Spectre and as such she and her companions were entitled to carry their weapons. Of course, both humans had to open their mouths and spout threats at her once again, and Tali had to grab her by the arm to keep her from shooting them all where they were standing.

"This place stinks of corruption," Vashlani hissed out as they passed by several people before being stopped by an alarm sounding. A woman, in a rather glaringly pink gown, hit the button telling them not to worry about it. It was the weapons alert, and Spectres were allowed to carry. They spoke for a few minutes trying to get more information from her.

"There was an asari Matriarch that passed through here days ago. The Matriarch was here on behalf of another Spectre and needed to take several crates up to Peak 15."

"What goes on at Peak 15?" Shepard shifted as she stood there waiting for the woman to answer her.

"Sorry, that information isn't shared. As long as the clients don't blow up the place and keep their noses out of other people's business and pay their fees, we don't ask questions."

Shepard grimaced at her; Vashlani was right, this place stank of corruption. "How do we get to this Peak 15?"

"Come by the administrative offices, in case you haven't noticed; there's a blizzard happening out there. The only way up there is blocked currently to keep anyone from going there in this weather. You would need the Administrator to give you a pass to open the gate."

 

* * *

 

The group stopped by a hanar merchant, and Wrex had to grab hold of Vashlani and yank him away from the jellyfish while Shepard reminded him that he couldn't eat the thing.

They finally found the offices and went in to talk to the Administrator. The salarian was less than helpful and refused to let them pass, stating the weather was a factor, and the privacy of the companies was another.

Shepard gritted her teeth and walked out, trying to think of a different way of getting up there.

As Shepard stormed through the front of the office, she heard the same woman calling out to her. "Commander, I see you didn't have any luck with getting the pass. Just to let you know, there is more than one person on this station with a garage pass. Go to the bar and talk with Lorik Qui'in."

 

* * *

 

"If you want a garage pass, get me the information I have stored on my computer in my office at the Synthetics Insight lab and help me prove the Administrator's corruption. You do that, and you get the pass. Oh and since he's paid off the ERCS guards to ransack the building, be ready for a fight. Try not to get too much blood on the carpet." The turian picked up the tumbler of blue alcohol that sat in front of him as he watched Shepard stand and move to a corner to talk to her companions.

Two hours later, Shepard returned to find the turian sitting in the same spot, drinking the same blue alcohol. "Here is your OSD." She tossed the disk on the table, and it rolled toward the turian who picked it up, turning it around in his fingers. He eyed Shepard and her companions. Their armor was bloody, and several holes in the krogan's armor still smoked a bit. He slid the disk into his portable terminal and entered in his passcode, a few seconds later he shut it down and reached into his pocket.

Vashlani tensed when he thought this turian started to reach for a weapon, and his hand had begun to glow. Tali laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. They watched as the turian pulled out a small card and slid it across the table. "Good doing business with you, Commander."

"Uh-huh, you might want to get a cleaning crew to your offices. Bloodstains are a bitch to get out once they set in."

The turian let out a small laugh and saluted her with his glass.

 

* * *

 

The turian that lounged against the wall of the garage told them the weather was worse and to be careful on the path if they skidded off the road leading to the peak it was a long way to the bottom. He also mentioned that he had a few things to sell and could fix the vehicle that was parked inside the garage if they needed to return before making it to the top of the peak.

When they entered the garage, they found out what was inside the crates that had been mentioned to them when they were getting information about the Matriarch. The crates she brought with her contained inactive geth units. Shepard ran for the Grizzly while Wrex used his biotics and shotgun on the closest units. Tali and Vashlani peppered them with overloads and lightning bolts. The resulting explosions caused more ERCS guards to show up, and Shepard pointed out the flaw in their security system. When geth were inactive they registered as just metal, tubes, and wires, that's why the crates were heavy. They had allowed the Matriarch to bring geth into the station.

"They're all a bunch of morons here," Shepard grunted to herself as they climbed into the Mako that was fueled up and parked near the exit. It had somehow survived the rather large explosions that happened when the fuel tanks blew up.

The extreme cold and blowing snow from the blizzard made travel hazardous, not to mention the various pockets of geth that they had encountered along the way. When they finally made it to the top of the peak, they noticed another vehicle outside. "Get ready for more enemies. Eyes and ears open, people."

They cautiously made their way inside, Shepard grinning as she heard Vashlani still muttering about the cold and how he should have worn a fur cloak instead of the thin one. "Vashlani, you know you can adjust the heat in the suits," Tali said as she stopped to show him how. They all snickered when they heard a satisfied sigh come from him. Once inside they made their way into a large room. Several geth and krogan attacked them, and Shepard kept yelling for either Tali or Vashlani to take out the annoying repair drone.

A computerized voice started to tell them about the excessive damage and Tali muttered, "No shit." Shepard let out a loud snort at the bad habits the quarian started to pick up from her and the crew.

"Shepard, look at those turrets, they're facing the wrong way," Wrex said as he gave a nod toward the gun turrets at the end of the path.

"No Wrex, I think they were trying to keep something in, not out. Something more's going on here."

She dove for cover as more geth appeared when they entered the next room. When they finished Tali looked at some of the remaining terminals, "Shepard they shut down the heat intentionally. It sounds like they were trying to kill something using Noveria's extreme cold. It couldn't have been the geth; they aren't affected by temperature variants like organics are."

They started toward the stairs when they saw an unknown bug like creature run towards them; they fired, and it exploded. "Shit, watch out for that."

"Shepard!" She heard Tali scream and saw several of the same creatures; only these were much larger bearing down on them. One spit out a great green gob of something, and it hit Wrex dead on and they saw his shields sputter and die, his armor started to smoke where the green goo ate holes in it.

They ducked as a large flaming humanoid flew past them shooting fireballs out of her hands toward the creatures. Wrex glowed with a golden white light for a moment before he started throwing warps at the remaining giant bugs and firing at them with his shotgun. One got past them and exploded too close to where Shepard was, and she screamed as her body flew backward to land against a pillar.

They ran for her as the atronach finished off the last of the enemies then burnt out.

Vashlani laid his hand on her and sent the healing spell into her. He let out a hiss and looked at the others. "She has been poisoned by that thing. My healing will do no good, as the poison will undo what healing Vashlani gives her." He reached into his bag and pulled out a small green book.

"Do something cub," Wrex growled at him as he looked around for more enemies.

He dropped the book back into the bag, then pulled out a different journal and started to flip through the pages rapidly. After he found what he was looking for he dropped the book back inside and then turned toward Shepard. He stared into her face, seeing the pain in her eyes as the poison worked to kill her. "Do you trust Vashlani?"

She groaned and looked back at him. Her body was on fire and in such pain. "Yesss," she hissed.

Vashlani leaned closer to her, "Can Vashlani trust you, Shepard?"

"What do you mean, of course, you can believe her. She's Shepard," Tali said to him, the tone of her voice was harsh as if he should know it.

His eyes didn't leave hers. Shepard knew what he was asking, and she knew why he felt the need to ask. "Yes, Vashlani. I give you . . ." she groaned in pain, "my word."

He looked at her for a few seconds longer then placed the pack back on, "No one move from the spot they are currently standing in. Not even an inch, this khajiit will get something to help." Then he disappeared.

"Keelah! Where did he go?" Tali started to take a step forward when Shepard yelled at her to stop.

 

* * *

 

Vashlani ran to the closest storage box and called for the cure poison potions. He carefully wrapped and placed them into his bag before he removed the gauntlet and the ring.

Tali jumped in fright when Vashlani reappeared minutes later. He quickly put his gauntlet back on before his hand froze and reached into his bag bringing out the bundle. He unwrapped it, revealing bottles of swirling green and white liquid. He removed the sealed cork and poured it into the intake port of her helmet. He watched as a long tube-like projection entered Shepard's mouth and she swallowed. He kept pouring until the phial was empty. "That's it, Shepard. Try to relax; it will only take a moment to clear you of the poison." When her breathing started to ease he cast the healing spell again until she held up her hand.

"Thank you, Vashlani," Shepard said to him as she sat up and leaned back against the broken pillar.

"Where did you go?" Tali asked him and he ignored her as he packed the phial back into the fur bag.

"Vashlani has limited potions that will remove the poison. If all of them get used up it will take a while to brew more, do you understand?" Vashlani said to them. They all nodded at him as he adjusted his pack.

"Shepard, those were rachni," Wrex grunted at her as he hauled her up off the ground.

"Rachni? Are you sure Wrex? No one has seen them since your people supposedly wiped them out close to two thousand years ago."

"I'm sure, Shepard. I'll never forget the stories of the battle masters of old told about those enemies."

"Rachni... what the hell are rachni doing on Noveria?" Shepard picked up her rifle and started forward. "Come on, let's move and keep your eyes open."

 

* * *

 

They ran into yet more of the rachni, both the large and the smaller ones. They rode a lift down and found themselves in the VI core room and had to fight off another onslaught of rachni when they stepped off of it.

"Tali, you're going to have to walk me through reactivating this thing," Shepard said to her as she leaned over the edge looking down into the core.

"Shepard, while you do that, will there be time to restock the potions? I used the last one on Wrex," Vashlani quietly asked her from where he stood next to her also looking down.

"Yes, just make it as quick as possible, I don't know how long this is going to take or what will happen once we get this back online."

He nodded then headed around to the other side of one of the large terminals before going into his pocket bag to restock.

 

* * *

 

When Vashlani rejoined them, they told him there were a few things left to do before they could move further. He handed each of them several of the green potions, reminding them he needed the phials and corks back. Wrex laughed considering he had seen him nosing around the fabricator and carting huge boxes of them back toward his room several times late at night. He had even helped him replicate the corks and blocks of sealing wax.

After they reconnected the roof's landlines and repaired the reactor, they were able to head down the passage toward the tram finally. About halfway there they came to a blockage. When they entered the control room, they saw rachni inside the tube. A debate started between Shepard and Wrex. Shepard wanted to ask Mira, the VI, to open the tube so they could kill them. Wrex just told her to have Tali hack the damn lock. They both jumped and looked at the tube when the plasma vents started up and burned them all. "Bosh'tets, it's easier just to burn them while inside there."

"Saves on potions too," Vashlani happily piped up.

 

* * *

 

After clearing the way to the tram, they settled on the chairs while the VI moved them along the rails. Shepard moved to sit next to Vashlani as he looked out the tram's window. "Vashlani, when we get back to the Normandy, I want to talk to you about what you did. I promise anything you say won't go further than me and you tell me, only what you feel comfortable with saying. Nothing more."

He dropped his head, knowing that he couldn't put off hiding his secret forever. Since he couldn't go back to his world, he would need to trust people in this world. Shepard and individual members of her crew, not all of them, since he didn't feel comfortable with them. "Alright, Shepard. As long as this khajiit has your word about what you hear and see, then I will tell you. Joker, Healer, and Garrus should join us. I would like them to know as well; this khajiit trusts them. We will need to be someplace safe, someplace where Joker and Healer won't be needed for a while as this may take some time to explain fully."

"You do, Vashlani, you do. We will head back to the Citadel and dock after this mission. The crew could use a break anyway." She picked up her weapon and moved toward the doors of the tram as it came into the station. The others were right behind her.

 

* * *

 

The "security" force that they ran into said they had been holding off the rachni for a while now. When Shepard asked about the Matriarch, the leader of the security team told her about the hot labs and handed her a key card. Just then several more of the creatures attacked. Wrex started to head toward the station and the hot labs as soon as the last rachni dropped dead. Shepard told him to hold up; she wanted to check the rest of the area in case there were clues as to why Rachni was there or at least where they came from.

He growled wanting to get to the bottom of it faster than by wasting time with looking, but he could also see her point of finding more intel.

When they entered further into the area that the security was guarding, they ran into several obstacles, and several people needed help, and one very annoying asari with a bad attitude almost made Shepard mad enough to slap her into yesterday.

They went about trying to help the others. Shepard got a feral grin on her face when the asari from earlier tried to attack them when they were creating an antidote to some toxin. When she confronted the doctor about it, he denied knowing that she was an asari commando and told her that she had just been transferred there at the behest of one of their backers. A Saren Arterius.

Shepard grimaced then handed the created antidote to the doctor, who gave her a pass, whispering it was a back way into the secure area. Once done, they moved on to the next request.

There was mention of a volus during the time they were questioning the leader of the security team. The man said the volus was the only survivor from the hot lab, and they stopped to talk with him since they were in a bit of hurry the first time they had come through.

The volus was the one that told them that Binary Helix had found a rachni egg and hatched it, it was a queen, that he now feels it was a mistake to do it. When Shepard asked him how he had survived the volus told them that he had killed her, that he had been on his way to eat lunch with a colleague when the alarm sounded, and he had made it to the tram before she did, but had shut the door behind him. He watched as the rachni killed her.

"The geth and that asari that attacked you earlier came from there. You'll need a pass." The volus had no emotion in his voice and just stood there pointing.

 

* * *

 

When they encountered Matriarch Benezia, they weren't quite prepared for the onslaught of commandos and geth. Gunfire, biotics, drones, and lightning bolts were flying everywhere. Finally, they saw the asari stumble and grow weak. She held her head for a moment then surprised Shepard by telling her about the Mu Relay and that she had learned it, none too gently, from the rachni queen. She also started to say them some of Saren's plans, telling them about Sovereign being the real threat, that it wasn't just a ship and that it controlled Saren and her. Before they could get more information she cried out then started to attack them again, she was joined by several more asari commandos.

"Shepard, how are we going to tell Liara about having to kill her mother?" Tali said as she wrung her hands together. Shepard sighed and told her she didn't know. They approached the tank that contained the large rachni queen. Wrex started to growl and grip his shotgun tighter. Vashlani took a few holos of the creature; his helmet was almost against the glass of the tank.

They were all startled when a voice came from behind them. One of the dying asari stood there then shuffled toward the tank. Vashlani let out a hiss his hands glowed, the word "necromancy" growled out of him.

The Queen explained that the asari was not yet dead. That her children had been taken from her, without her song they were not sane. That the same thing had happened before when the sounds of the songs changed, soured. She asked them for her life that all she wanted was to find someplace to raise her children and sing. Wrex argued just to kill it, that another rachni war would wipe out everything, which his people won't be used again to fight them. Shepard asked her where she would go if they set her free. She told them back through the relay; she had no interest in wars or fighting; she gave Shepard her word.

Shepard gave her a warning then opened the container. Before the queen left, she asked Shepard to destroy the others; the needlemen soured them.

Shepard let out a sigh, "I guess our next stop is those hot labs."

* * *

 

When they walked into the lab area, there was only a single man sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. When they talked to him, he told them more of what happened with the queen and the rachni, how they wanted to use them as soldiers, only they hadn't known that they needed to be with the queen to keep them from attacking everyone. He told them the rachni at the lab couldn't be saved and activating the neutron purge was the only way to get rid of them. They started to ask him more questions when one of the rachni came out of nowhere and impaled the man.

When they killed the rachni, Shepard began to rifle through the man's pockets and found a long code. "I think this is it."

They followed Shepard into the room behind the man. Mira the VI asked for the code to activate the purge. When Shepard gave it to her, that's when she notified them they had only 120 seconds to get out of the lab. "Shit... move it!"

They opened the door to run back to the lift only to see the room between them, and it filled with rachni, all of them heading straight for them. "Vashlani now would be a good time for one of the big ones!"

Vashlani had already called for his staff and started casting, he pointed it towards to the middle of the room and a large creature appeared, made of rock and lightning. The creature cast a spell that had lightning jumping from one to another of the rachni.

"When I cast this next one, run, don't get near the atronach though, unless you want to get shocked and possibly die."

Vashlani cast one of the chain lightning spells directly at the summoned creature, the spell went through it and spread out further, catching more of the creatures in the effect. Some disintegrating, others stunned. "Run!" When they made it to the lift he kept yelling to hurry and push the button, they didn't want to be anywhere near when that thing exploded. The doors closed just as the atronach reared back when the explosion happened the lift rocked. It was followed by several more explosions as the neutron purge went off.

When they made it back to the Normandy, he asked for a bit of time to figure out just how to explain things to her. She agreed to tell him that she had to talk with Liara, and they had to have their debrief, just let her know when he was ready.


	15. Chapter 15

* * *

 

 

Vashlani stood under his shower while he thought. How was he to tell them? He felt he could trust Healer and Joker, even Garrus. He had a bit of reservation about Shepard, only because of the remembered encounter in the training room, but she had kept his secret for the food, and hadn't asked more about where he got his things from, and he had to take that into consideration.

He laid on his bed after his shower and stared up into the canopy. His datapad registered a new message:

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net  
From: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net

We'll dock at Citadel in three days. Hopefully, that will give you enough time. If not we'll figure out something else. Thank you for saving my life.

~*~

He placed the pad on the night table and closed his eyes, he flicked his hand and put out the candlelight spell that had been hovering over his head, falling asleep soon afterward.

When he awoke and had breakfast he wandered around outside, the sphere busily worked in the greenhouse or orchard, whizzing by him while it carried baskets of food or other items. Soon after he went into his study, his eyes fell on the locked chest that gave off a soft glow. His brows furrowed and his whiskers twitched as he opened the purple box and took out the chest key.

When he opened the chest, there was a small diary that glittered dimly, wrapped around it was a purple ribbon and a small scroll tucked under it. When he lifted the book from the box, the effect dissipated and he closed the lid. He placed the key back in the box sat to read the scroll.

_Vashlani,_

_If you're reading this, then the magic of the room has deemed you ready. Whether by a gain in power or for some other reason or need. Remember my previous instructions. The spells in the diary are only to be read in the casting room. When you are ready, it will let you know when to cast the spell at the door. Keep this diary safe from prying eyes._

_You have come a long way, my son._

Vashlani re-read the scroll then clutched the diary as he hurried to the small room in the cellar.

 

* * *

 

Wrex began to pack up the family armor that Shepard had helped him to get back when he heard Tali tell Garrus what Vashlani had done at the lab on Noveria. He gave out a laugh at the thought of what his people would say had they seen a cub blow the Rachni to hell with a simple twist of his wrist. In less than a minute he had utterly destroyed a room full of Rachni. He let out a small snarl at the thought of Shepard letting one escape, and a queen no less. He looked down at the old, useless piece of red armor, but she had willingly taken him to retrieve this piece of junk without batting an eyelash, only said, "Sure Wrex, just let Joker know where to go." She had treated him with respect and with the same consideration she had with the rest of the crew, alien or human. She had earned his trust. He just had to hope she knew what kind of devastation could be released on the galaxy if that damn thing ran amok.

Shepard looked down at her omni tool when a message from Vashlani came in:

To: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net  
From: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

Vashlani is busy and can't be disturbed. He is in the middle of something imperative so can't come with you on missions. I'll let you know if I can be ready when Joker gets to the Citadel.

~*~

She frowned and wondered what the hell he was up too, then thought it might just be better if she didn't know. As long as whatever he did didn't cause an explosion on the Normandy or some other catastrophe she would stay out of it.

 

* * *

 

Vashlani paced in the room, as he read the incantation over and over again. He followed the motions that his Master had written down and still the words failed to glow. "Okay, Vashlani's doing something wrong. Master told me to take my time. Maybe the movements are too fast?"

He tried it again and still no shimmer of magic from the words. He let out an aggravated sigh and headed up to get something to eat. He sat at the table with his soup and bread and studied the words in the book. He was careful not even to utter a syllable aloud, and he still couldn't figure out what the problem was. After dinner, he went back down to try again.

 

* * *

 

"Commander, I know you're heading toward the Citadel for shore leave, but we have had a development in the Armstrong Cluster. Reports came in of heavy geth activity, and we need you to go check the system." The Admiral's voice came over the secure channel, and it was all she could do not to groan. Why her? Why was it her group always having to run all over the damn place to check this out or check that out that problem?

"Yes, sir."

"You heard him, Joker. Set a course for the coordinates 5th Fleet sent. Have Tali and Garrus come to the meeting room."

 

* * *

 

Vashlani walked toward the steps to the cellar again when he heard the beeping sound from the data pad he had left in the study. He read the note telling him that there had been a delay in getting to the Citadel. He sent back his acknowledgment then went to the casting room.

"Okay, Vashlani, you can do this." He closed his eyes and took a breath as he tried to relax. His movements were slow and precise; the words came forth in a steady cadence. After the last word he opened his eyes and saw the glow on the pages. He gave a smile and rushed out of the room.

He stood in front of the locked door and took several calming breaths. The trick wasn't to just slow down his movements but to be calm. This wasn't a battle or heal spell that would need to be cast at a moment's notice. He needed to slow down and take his time. When he heard the sound of the lock clicking open, he dropped his hands and opened his eyes. The door was slightly ajar, and he opened it the rest of the way and entered the room. It was completely bare but for some markings on the floor. He tossed a magelight at the ceiling and saw it wasn't more than 12 feet high.

"Hmm, markings on the floor give no clue. Guess it is back to the practice room."

That night, as he got ready for bed, the data pad pinged and the message told him now they were once again heading toward the Citadel and would be there the next day. Another sound came in almost right afterward from Garrus said that he had located a gardener on the Citadel that had some turian herbs and seeds for sale if he was still interested.

He let out a yawn and snuggled down into his bed, the words of the spell ran through his mind. He fell asleep and dreamed of his greenhouse full of strange plants, his sphere rolled around the yard and carried large baskets of rainbow colored fruits balanced on its head, and Shepard swam in his pond while Joker sat on a chair and laughed at her. When he woke up, he knew what he would do to help explain where he would go. He went about making sure everything that could be a danger for them was securely locked away then sent Shepard a message telling her he would be ready to explain everything but would need each one to swear to never say a word to anyone. When he got her word he picked up a tome from the trunk then sat at his desk, laboriously copying four Scrolls of Binding from the page inside of it.

Vashlani stood inside the doorway of the room; the book hovered in front of him. He just finished the last word of the incantation, and he felt a sucking sensation followed by the sound of several pops. He opened his eyes, and the room became filled with items.

In the center was a large, white and green colored archway that looked like it had come from an Ayleid ruin. On a pedestal was a large tome with a quill and inkpot sitting on the shelf above it. A scroll hung from it, still twirling from being yanked from the other pocket dimension and deposited in this one. He picked it up and put it in his bag to read later.

There were several chests stacked along a wall, and cabinets filled with items lined up along another one. Vashlani went to investigate the cabinets and found things like charcoal and marking chalks, even small boxes that contained a few rings and medallions. He frowned as he wondered why the Master would have these in this room instead of in the Enchanter box. Another shelf contained scroll making items and glittering inks that shone with all the colors of a rainbow. He pulled out his item journal and noticed that none of these new items had been added to it, nor was there a new entry for the room.

His datapad let out a beep, and he pulled it from his bag.

To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net  
From: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net

Just letting you know that we've docked at the Citadel, I told Garrus, Joker and Doc to meet us in my chambers in two hours time. I hope that gives you enough time to do what you need to do and meet us, if not just send us an updated time as soon as you can.

~*~

He sent back his answer then walked toward the pedestal that held the sizable tome. He opened it and saw nothing but blank pages. His ears rotated, and his tail flicked, his eyes roamed around the room as he wondered what it's purpose was. Even the crates were empty and not marked in any way. He went back to his study and locked up the diary before he left to return to the ship. He wondered if completely trusting them with his secret was the right thing to do.

Vashlani tapped the chime and asked for entrance to Shepard's cabin; the door slid open immediately. The others were already there waiting for him. They didn't know why they were there, other than because Vashlani had requested it.

Shepard sat on the couch next to Chakwas, and they quietly waited for Vashlani to start talking. He paced nervously and wiped his hands on his shirt. Then cleared his throat several times before he turned to them.

"This khajiit does not know if Shepard told you of what happened on Noveria when those strange bugs poisoned her, but she asked Vashlani to explain what he did. Since Vashlani trusts Joker, Healer and Garrus more than any other crew members he wanted you to know as well."

"I didn't say anything to anyone, and neither did the others, Vashlani."

He looked at her and nodded. "Vashlani thought it would be better to show you than just to tell you, and he thinks if you see it for yourself, you would understand why he must keep it secret." He reached into his bag and pulled out the four scrolls. "These are Scrolls of Binding; there is one for each of you. Don't open them until asked to do so. These scrolls will bind your word that you will never tell another person about what you will hear and see once shown my greatest secrets. The binding is a protection for me, and for you as well; in a way. Once you read the scroll it will bind you from being able to tell, even if you are under duress, you won't be able to say anything. You simply won't know about it when asked, but in a setting where you're talking with someone also under the binding, the knowledge will be there. It will not harm you in any way. Now before we go further, does anyone not agree to this? If so, Vashlani asks that you leave the room. You also have the choice to be bound against all of this knowledge. Should you not feel you can trust me then answer negatively to the questions and anything you have heard will be erased from your memory, and nothing that you see or hear concerning me will remain once we part ways. It will not harm you either way." He clutched the scrolls to his chest and looked at each of his friends when none made a move to leave he let out a breath.

"Alright," he handed each of them a scroll. "Do not be frightened; Vashlani would never harm any of you." He took a breath, "Shepard, you first, please." He pointed to a spot next to him and when she stood beside him, her brows furrowed, he looked at her.

"Open the scroll and read it. Do not falter and it must be said aloud." When she'd done it; the scroll crumbled. "Shepard, this khajiit must ask you this again. Do you trust Vashlani?"

At her assent he smiled at her, "Can Vashlani trust you with his secrets?" She nodded and said he could. He took her hand in his and eased a hand around her waist. "The binding is sealed." He leaned in and whispered something, then they disappeared.

Panic ensued in the cabin until Chakwas told them to calm down, "He wouldn't hurt any of us, he has had plenty of opportunities to and has only been of help to us." No sooner did she say that than Vashlani popped back into the room, without Shepard.

"Vashlani, what did you do to Shepard?" Garrus demanded. Vashlani's whiskers drooped, and his smile slid off his face.

"Vashlani thought you would trust him." He let out a sad sigh, "Shepard is okay." He held out his hand toward Garrus, "Vashlani asks for the scroll back and for you to leave the room, Garrus. Without your trust, this khajiit cannot, nor will not, show you."

Garrus stood there, the scroll clutched tightly in his hand and stared down at the khajiit. "No, Vashlani. I apologize. I do trust you; it's just when you disappeared with Shepard, my protective instincts for my friend and Commander kicked into gear."

Vashlani looked up at him and tried to gauge his sincerity. "To put your mind at ease, I will have you go next. Is that acceptable to Garrus?"

The turian gave a brief nod.

"Then open the scroll Garrus and just as Shepard did, read it."

The scroll crumbled, "Before you answer the questions, think carefully about it Garrus. Once said, your word will be bound. Do you trust Vashlani?"

"You aren't going to hug me or anything, are you? Because that just might be asking too much of me." Garrus joked, and Vashlani just shook his head, he didn't smile or laugh.

"I see ... I do trust you, Vashlani."

"Garrus, can Vashlani still trust you?" His blue eyes met Garrus's, and he heard a small click that sounded sad.

"Yes, Vashlani you can."

Vashlani held out his hand, and Garrus grasped it, "Then the binding is sealed." He whispered something then they too disappeared.

Joker looked at the Doc who sat on the couch and looked at ease. She tapped her finger against the scroll. "Vashlani didn't look too happy with Garrus, did he?"

Chakwas looked over at him, "Can you blame him? He asked several times if we trusted him, all of us agreed then as soon as he did something different; Garrus jumped all over him. Just the way several of the people on this ship treat him made him hesitant, then someone he thought he could trust had given him a reason to doubt."

When Vashlani reappeared, he waited for the reaction of the other two. "Healer, Joker one on each side of me, please." His voice sounded a bit despondent; his trust in Garrus had been shaken. When they were in position he had Joker open his scroll and read it then asked him the same questions. He did the same with Chakwas. He held out his hands, announced the binding was sealed then kissed the back of Chakwas hand as they disappeared.

"Vashlani welcomes the four of you to his home."

"This is your homeworld?" Shepard asked as she continued to look around the area that was in front of his house where he had asked her to wait and not move or try to open the door to the cabin.

"No, this is my home. Not my world. Please follow me, this khajiit has made lunch for us all. Vashlani has set up the gazebo in preparation."

"Please sit, Healer and Joker please take the cushioned chairs. Garrus and Shepard grab a cushion for the bench and try to make yourselves comfortable." Once he served everyone and told them what it was he sat and started to tell them about the pocket dimension and his home. After eating, he gave them a tour showing them the stable which caused Shepard to gape at the animals and the apple trees that were in the meadow. Vashlani used the telekinesis spell to pull an apple down from the tree for her. The greenhouse drew Chakwas' attention when he explained about the soil and how it would grow any alchemical ingredient, such as herbs, flowers, vegetable or fungus without ever needing to be watered or fertilized.

They were nearing the cabin when the sphere came up on the lift and Joker called out, "What the hell is that?" He pointed to a metallic object that held a basket and moved toward the greenhouse.

"That is a Dwarven sphere; it takes care of my home and everything that is attached to it in this dimension. It sorts my ingredients and items, and even does my laundry." He smiled at them when they laughed. "Please come inside and let me show you my home. This khajiit does ask that you don't touch things, not everything is at it seems inside of there. Many of the items are magical in nature. If you are curious about something, just ask." He took a shaky breath and reached for the handle of the cabin's door.

He heard them all gasp as they entered the home, Shepard came to a stumbling halt when she saw the interior. "How?"

Vashlani shrugged, "Magic."

When Vashlani showed them the kitchen, Shepard stood watching as the sphere washed and dried the dishes that they had used earlier. The sphere placed everything in its spot in the room. He answered the various questions about a few of the artifacts and things that lay scattered about the kitchen and dining room. He stopped several times so they could look at something that caught their eye.

He stood outside the study door and opened it and motioned them to enter. He let them look around and asked them not to touch the boxes that were on the desk.

Chakwas took down several of the books from a shelf after she got his approval to do so, she ran her hand over the bindings and the pages. "This is real paper and leather isn't it?"

He nodded, "Yes, they are hand bound and hand written. These tomes are fanciful tales, history, biographies and others of that sort. There are more that are for Vashlani's eyes only."

"Ahh, that explains the ones in the locked case then." He nodded and smiled at her understanding and not asking to see them.

Garrus stood in front of the fireplace and looked at the painting. "Winterhold? Is this the College you attended?"

Vashlani joined him and gave him a slight shrug, "Things have changed since this painting was made. A great catastrophe happened, and it destroyed most of the town. But yes, the large, towering keep is the College."

His gaze flicked to Joker who bent down to peer into a small golden cage that sat on a wooden pedestal. A small gold colored metal bird sat on a thin decorative branch. "What is this, Vash?"

Vashlani tapped a small button, and the mechanical bird started to sing, "An Ayleid artifact; they're mechanical songbirds and are a rare item. Indeed, very few remain outside of the control of the Empire. They are thousands of years old."

He heard a noise behind him and saw Shepard next to his desk, the framed drawing of him as a child held in her hand, a soft smile on her face. She looked up at him, "This is you?"

"Yes, Master must have drawn that shortly after I stumbled to his cabin. Certainly, after he had healed me and began training me."

"Healed you? What happened, you're only a child in this." She carefully placed the drawing back on his desk and turned toward him; he had grown quiet, and they all glanced his way.

"Vashlani was eight when his khajiit parents purchased a caravan wagon, they traveled through Elsweyr and into Cyrodiil, buying and selling items. Vashlani's Father decided to go to Skyrim, said profits would be better there, not so many caravans, yes? More trade with adventurers looking to lighten their loads, by selling their treasures." His eyes turned toward the large windows and looked out at the sprawling meadow, the red, blue and purple flowers stood out against the golden grass.

"By this time, Vashlani was ten years old, almost a man. But was too weak to help protect his beloved Mother and Father when the bandits struck. They killed Vashlani's Father, and they did horrible things to Vashlani's Mother in front of him before they silenced her screams with a sword thrust. Their laughter and eyes then turned toward this khajiit, and so did their fists. When they were done beating me, they must have thought this one was dead as well because the bandits took everything from the caravan they could and left Vashlani lying in a pool of his parent's blood. This khajiit struggled to his feet; he had seen a tendril of smoke rising a short distance away and hoped it was not more bandits. When this khajiit saw the cabin, he moved too fast and cried out in pain, stumbled and collapsed in front of the cabin. He woke sometime later to a male human tending to him. That man healed Vashlani, honored his parents with a burial while he had been unconscious. He took me in, raised and trained me and became my Father."

Only the sweet warbling of the songbird was heard in the room for several minutes before he cleared his throat and turned to look at them, "That was long ago, yes? Time is a good healer and Vashlani's new Father taught him well, showed him kindness and loved him as a son. It is good. There is much more to see, please if you're done looking at Vashlani's study let us move on."

They stopped to look inside the sitting room, and Joker opened the door to the small porch and laughed as one of the goats sauntered past chewing a mouth full of grass and flowers. It paid no attention to the man standing there.

Garrus tried to open the doors in the hallway and Vashlani told them nothing behind those doors yet. The rooms aren't built yet, so the doors don't function. Garrus' mandibles flicked to the sides, "You have doors with no rooms?"

Vashlani nodded as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Vash, what's at the top of those stairs?"

He turned toward Joker, "Ah, that is my bedroom and bathroom up there. The stairs that go down lead to my crafting cellar, please let me show you."

"Come with me, Joker, if you would stand on this panel when the lift reaches the bottom just step off of it. The lift is what the sphere uses to get around the house as it can't use stairs. Do not be afraid." When Joker disappeared downstairs, and the lift raised back up, he led the rest of them to the stairs that went down to the cellar.

"Garrus, this next room may be of interest to you." He led them into the smithing room. "Here is where weapons and armors can be forged. Well, they would if this khajiit used them. However, Vashlani uses this room to craft jewelry and bits and baubles to sell. The sphere uses it to dry my clothes." They laughed as the metal worker in question came rolling in and placed a basket down against a wall then moved back out.

"How does it know to do that? Is it a VI or an AI?" Garrus asked as he walked out of the room and approached the ball that was in its usual spot when it wasn't doing something.

"It is an artifact from an ancient civilization on my world. The Dwemer built many huge fortresses and many amazing inventions. The running water that is in my home is another of their inventions. The sphere is magical as well as mechanical in nature. Its abilities are inscribed to it using magic, and it follows those orders implicitly. If one were made to be a guard of a particular area, it would carry out that order until it was destroyed. Even now some ruins contain these artifacts, and they are still intact within and carry out their orders. Master found this one, repaired and inscribed what was needed to care for him and this place. Since Masters death, he has become mine."

The alchemist center was next. Vashlani explained how he made the potions and let them look at the jars and even brought down some of the rarer ingredients so they could see them. He led the way to the enchanting tables and watched as Shepard ran her hand over the intricately carved rosewood table. He answered their questions about the enchants and how it worked. "So when you go into your room, you come here then? I guess you're sleeping here rather than on that uncomfortable cot?" Shepard asked him as she picked up a glowing sphere and held it up to her face to look inside at the swirls of blue, purple and white. Vashlani carefully took the lightning sphere from her and placed it back on the pedestal and handed her a jar that contained a floating color changing crystal to look at.

Vashlani's ears rotated, "If you could choose between a cot and a comfortable bed with clean sheets and thick pillows what would you choose?"

She let out a hum and laughed, "Hell yeah, I would come here too." She put the jar down then reached for the one that contained the purple butterfly creation. Shepard watched as it fluttered its wings and hovered in the center of the jar.

He showed them the boxes and how to use them before he led them back out to the main circular room. Joker tried to open the sealed room. "Vashlani still needs to unlock that room's secrets. But this room is Vashlani's practice room." He opened the doors, and they entered into a cavernous room filled with dummies, strange floating orbs and all kinds of interesting objects.

Another door opened into a storage room, cleaning supplies, empty barrels, crates, baskets, jars, and other odds and ends all placed along the long walls of the room for easy access. Once they had looked their fill, Vashlani led them to the lift that went outside.

"Vashlani, how did your Master build all this stuff? Didn't you say that, unbelievable as it sounds, that we are actually inside that pouch that you always wear?" Garrus asked as they once more sat outside in the gazebo.

"From what Master wrote on the scrolls and in his journals, it had taken him decades to make this place. He would gather resources, such as the wood and stone for the home and bring it into this dimension. Once here he used spells to facilitate the building of the place. Adding the buildings, then stocking them. I added the goats and chickens, but everything else you see inside here was Master's work. One day Vashlani hopes to add things of his own, expand the greenhouse maybe. Add fish to the pond so Vashlani has fresh fish to eat. Fill some of the display cases with items from his adventures and travels."

"Won't you need to feed them or replace them? What will happen when the goats and chickens die, we don't have anything like them on the Citadel and buying them on Earth would be very expensive." Chakwas asked him as she drank some of the tea he had made for her.

"The animals and insects you see inside here are immortal. They will never age, never die, as long as the pocket bag and dimension remain stable and intact."

No one said anything for a few minutes then Joker said, "You're shitting us?"

"No. Do not ask me for more information or how I do it ." He stared at Shepard who had opened her mouth, after a moment she closed it and nodded. "So this is Vashlani's biggest secret. A home in a stable pocket dimension. Most mages have dreamed of something like this, but very few can ever achieve it. The apprentice that caused Vashlani to be pulled into your dimension began to read the incantation, without the decades of preparation, without study and learning and it caused this khajiit to lose his friends, his way of life and others like him. It could have been worse as it could have killed everyone in the College, possibly even all of Winterhold, by summoning the dimension in that room. It may have since I have no way of knowing what happened after I disappeared. Magic is dangerous, especially to those that would use it without understanding it, without thinking." Vashlani watched Shepard carefully, and he finally saw her completely understand one of the reasons he had refused to tell them about the magic.

"So how big is this place, Vash?" Joker leaned back in his chair and looked up into the sky at the large orb that hung above them.

"Vashlani isn't sure. He has not explored past the immediate area. He does know that the sphere disappears somewhere around the other side of the home with its basket once in a while. Whether it is off to dispose of refuse or gather something he doesn't know. Maybe one day he will pack his travel bag and find out." He stood up and stretched. "You may explore the immediate grounds if you wish, the greenhouse is open as is the study or sitting room, feel free to read any books from the open book shelves. If you would like more to eat or drink, there's a listing next to the box in the kitchen, just do as you were shown earlier to ask the box for the item. The facilities are at the top of the first set of stairs. When you are ready to return to the Normandy, just let me know."

He saw Chakwas head for the greenhouse, Joker just tipped his hat down and stretched his legs out in front of him; he looked like he was ready to take a nap outside. Garrus asked if he could go back down to the smithing room. "Of course. If you're interested in learning about of some of the armor or weapons that my world had, there are tomes in the study about blacksmithing. Vashlani would be happy to lend one to you."

Garrus patted him on the shoulder and headed for the house. Vashlani started to walk toward the meadow, and Shepard soon joined him. "I get it now, Vashlani. I get it now, what you said about the necessity for caution and control. People from where I'm from don't have that kind of patience, they want it right then, not wait so many years just to be able to do something small. The Council pretty much said the same thing, thirty years of being a member of the Galactic Community and Humanity began to push and demand to have the same concessions as races that have been there for hundreds if not thousands of years. Frankly, I don't know of anyone from my dimension that I would be comfortable giving such power to."

"It takes so long to learn, many of us are almost adults before we begin to cast more than novice spells, such as light spells. At least those that have responsible teachers, there are some that expect even a child to perform spells of an apprentice level or higher, then punish when they can't do it or it gets out of control." He bent down and picked one of the purple mountain flowers that grew at their feet and tucked it behind her ear. "Not all magic is used for destructive purposes. We have healing and protection magics; we can use it to shape items that are necessary for survival. We can use it to form gifts for another person." He stopped and turned toward her, his hands cupped together, and she watched as they glowed purple then white, "Breathe into my palms, Shepard, give the gift of creation."

She looked at him and blew a gentle breath into the tiny hole he made after he moved his thumb. His hands opened, and an amethyst colored bird with a white breast sat in his palm, it held a small red crystal rose in its beak. He reached for her hand and placed it on her palm, "A gift for understanding."

They started to walk again, and Shepard asked him to tell her more about Elsweyr. So he began telling her of the stories of the khajiit homeland, of the small cabin that he lived in with his Master and of the journey he had undertaken after his Master's passing. He opened the door to his home for her and led her to the study. Chakwas was there with a book in her hand; she sat in a chair in front of the lit hearth.

"That mech came in and started the fire when I sat in this chair," she told them when she looked up from the book. Vashlani smiled at her and pulled a tome from the shelf for Garrus then handed another one to Shepard.

"This tells of some of the people of my land. Please, have a seat while Vashlani goes and gives this to Garrus and makes sure he isn't trying to burn down my house or take something apart."

Vashlani found Garrus in the smithy, his outer suit of armor off and the top of his under armor pulled down, and he sat on the floor between the smelter and the forge. "What're you doing?"

"Basking in the heat and finally being warm for the first time since I left Palaven. Without worrying about boiling in lava from Shepard's bad driving or an exploding volcano." He didn't even bother to open his eyes, just let out a sigh of relaxation.

"Vashlani's glad Garrus is enjoying the smithy. I'll put the tome next to your armor." All he got was a grunt as an answer.

Vashlani chuckled as he went back up to the study. Shepard looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and he told her Garrus wanted to use his smithy as a turian version of a Nord's steam bath.

Joker came in and went to the kitchen getting one of the Black-Briar Meads from the box before joining them in the study. He told Vashlani he needed to get back to the ship; he needed to run diagnostics and get ready for the deliveries. Chakwas put her book back and said she should go as well, thanking him for the lunch and the trust. He stood up and told Joker to hold onto Healer's hand while he looped her other arm around his. He removed his ring, and they disappeared, a few minutes later he was back.

Garrus came up shortly after and yawned with the book in his hand. Vashlani took them back to the ship and agreed to meet them the next day for a trip to the Citadel. Then he went back to his home and after opening the chest, went into the practice room to begin learning the last of the spells in his Master's diary.


	16. Chapter 16

* * *

 

 

Vashlani had spent hours going over the spell, but it had yet to be ready. The next morning he met with Garrus and Shepard and they once more took him around the Citadel, this time, Garrus took him to the Turian Landscaping and Palaven Gardens store for seeds. While there Shepard saw a sign for portable greenhouses. She started flipping through the designs then called Vashlani over and told him to pick one as a gift from them for taking them to see his home.

Of course, he refused, and she insisted with Garrus backing up her demand. They wouldn't take no for an answer so he started to look at them, then asked if he could get one without all the extra things, just the building. The shop clerk insisted he needed the generators for the heat and lights, the timers for the watering system, and Vashlani just kept saying no he didn't and didn't want the watering thing either. Garrus finally told the clerk that if all he wants is the structure to just sell him one or they could just go and buy the plans and the materials from the Quarian Gardens that were at the other end of the deck.

The turian could tell they were serious and finally sold them the largest greenhouse they had in stock, without the add-on packages. Vashlani asked for someplace to buy timber to build the planters and Garrus laughed. "No such thing my friend, instead just give me the dimensions you want and we will make them with the fabricator."

They met up with Joker to watch the latest Blasto movie and ended up buying Vashlani a Blasto plushie. When they got back to the ship, they notified Vashlani that he had a delivery in the cargo hold. They all went down and saw a large container and Vashlani started smiling. After changing into his regular clothes he moved back and ran his hand over the container before joining the others.

"How in the hell are you going to carry that thing to your home?" Joker asked, Vashlani only smiled.

"Watch." He looked around to make sure no one but them was in the cargo hold at the time, opened his pouch and to their astonishment dropped the plushie inside, then walked over to the silver crate, grabbed hold of the handle and disappeared, container and all.

"Shit, that must be handy for moving furniture," Joker said as they all laughed. Vashlani reappeared, and they went up to Shepard's cabin, all of them joined hands and went to his home.

They built the structure behind the first greenhouse. The sphere had entered the new greenhouse and let out a copious bout of steam, then stayed in the corner while Vashlani took measurements. Garrus told him he was ready and they returned to the Normandy to make the planter boxes.

They placed the planters and Vashlani asked the box for soil and then spread less than an inch into each long box. He held up a finger when one of them wondered how he could grow anything in that. When all of them had the soil in it, he brought out a book that he had fetched from inside at one point. He took a deep breath and asked them to be as quiet as possible. The book started to float, and they watched as he moved his arms in a graceful sweeping motion, his hands swayed, and he said words they couldn't comprehend. They noticed the planters start to fill up with dark, rich looking soil. Once they had reached the right level his chant stopped, and they could smell moistness in the air. "Vashlani suggests we step outside."

The sphere had already left the building and stopped a short distance from the door. As soon as everyone was outside, they heard what sounded like thunder and watched as it rained inside the structure.

When the rain stopped, they went back inside, and Vashlani planted a single seed into each mound and labeled the card on the front of the planter. Each time he did so the sphere would let out a puff of steam. When Vashlani planted the last seed, the sphere left and went back inside the house.

They joined him for dinner as his way of saying thank you before heading back to the Normandy.

 

* * *

 

When Vashlani woke up the next morning, he had an enormous smile on his face and went to take a look at his new greenhouse. The sphere was in the other greenhouse, already busy gathering up the mature plants. When he entered the new one, he let out a purr as he saw the plants had already broken through the soil and looked hardy.

Once he had breakfast, he went back to practice room once more reading the spell, only this time the khajiit couldn't keep the purr out of his voice from the happiness he felt at having friends. He opened his eyes and saw the words sparkle with a golden light.

When he used the book inside of the other room the archway lit up and a glowing, swirling pattern of light appeared to fill the inside of the arch. His Master had built a portal chamber! A small journal bound in green and pure white cloth with an Ayleid arch symbol woven into the fabric appeared next to the large book.

When he opened it the first page said:

_Vashlani, if you can read this then the scroll that you summoned during the last spell still hasn't been read yet. Do so now, please._

He reached into his pouch and summoned out the scroll then read it.

_Well done, Vashlani. The jars and bowls that are in the cabinets contain the items necessary to work the magic of this room once you can perform the last of the incantations. The various inks and chalks can be made using the recipes that you will find in the tome once the room is ready. The storage trunks aren't connected to the General Goods box. These boxes are to be used for the storage of items and other goods that you will need access to before going into the portal, or as temporary storage of items you bring back. Your family or apprentice, should you choose to bring them here, can use these boxes as personal storage as well. There will also be further instructions for the book in the next journal that will appear when the room activates. When you have finished reading this scroll recite the words written at the bottom._

When he read the words the scroll crumbled and the other journal glowed for a moment then stopped.

_Vashlani, you should now know what this room was meant to be. It will only activate if you have found a reason for wanting or needing portals. Inside the large tome, you can record locations of portals that you place. All of them will connect to the portal in this room. If you learn the spell correctly the words will shimmer in the same manner, only this time, they will be imprinted on you just like a regular spell and only when it is perfect. So be sure to practice in your room often._

_The special inks can be used to create scrolls for one time portal use. They will only connect to this one portal. Only make one at a time and be very careful of when and how you use it. Any creature or person that is in contact with the reader at the time the scroll is used will also travel to this dimension. I don't need to tell you what can happen if something is let loose in this dimension that shouldn't be here._

_The following pages contain incantations to use to create objects for your friends, apprentices, companions or your family should you have one. They will connect to this portal to allow you to go to them if they are in great need and call for you. Use the incantations carefully, make your own token first, then the ones for your chosen recipients, link them together and if you are away or are already here inside this dimension and they call for you, your token and the portal will react. Make sure to impress upon them that it is for emergencies, and they are not to tell others about the item or the words used to activate the magic contained in the item. The small boxes include rings, amulets, and medallions that I have forged for you. They hold no magic until you enchant them, they are a gift from an old man._

_My most precious apprentice and son, this will be the last of the messages that I have left for you. As you grow in power and wisdom the rest of the tomes and journals will become accessible to you, all of my knowledge is contained with them, use it wisely. May the divines protect you and those you also call friends and family._

As he finished reading the note, the words glowed then disappeared. He slowly closed the book, no longer in the mood for the magic of the room. Moments later he found himself sitting in the gazebo staring out over the pond lost in memories of his childhood.

 

* * *

 

He sent Shepard a message letting her know that he would be absent for at least a day. If he was needed to send him a message. She posted a response to let him know that they would be leaving the Citadel in less than 6 hours and if he needed anything from there that he had to get it. He said since the plants were growing well that he wasn't in need of anything more at that time.

She scratched her head then shrugged, after what she had seen when she had been at his home if he said the plants were already growing they probably were.

Vashlani sat on the floor of his practice room while he read over the enchantment spell. He hadn't yet learned the portal spell, it was incredibly complicated and had to be said precisely. Shepard sent him another message telling him they were leaving the dock and had several missions to do if he was interested. He told her he was still really busy, but maybe later.

After several hours of reading the spell it finally shimmered, Vashlani read it once more, and when the words disappeared from the page, he knew he had it right. Vashlani stood up and stretched. "I need a break before this khajiit starts to tackle the portal spell."

Vashlani walked out of his room on the ship after he asked the VI where Shepard was. He sat beside her in the mess hall, since they had a new cook the smells that came from the cooking pots were much better and more people were eating and began to look healthy again.

"Shepard, are there any missions now?"

She nodded as she finished chewing her food. "Yeah, we are on our way to one right now. We need to pick up something and the Admiral thinks maybe the geth may be there. You're more than welcome to tag along with us. Kaidan will be going as well as Ashley, and it'll be an excellent opportunity to work with them, and your sparks will help take some of the pressure off of us if geth are involved."

He smiled at her then wandered down to the cargo bay to pick out his colors and get his armor ready.

 

* * *

 

"Skipper, there are small prints all over the place, I think one of the life forms here stole the module," Ashley told her as they boarded the Mako before their suits could sound their hazard alarm. Kaidan sat at the console and started a scan, "There are three concentrations of life forms nearby. Whatever stole that data module is probably in one of them."

Shepard stopped the Mako, and they peered out of the front camera, "What they hell are those things?" They watched a bunch of striped black, purple and white creatures running all over the place. Several headed for what looked like an abandoned mining structure.

"Oh, this will be fun as we try to find the one that had picked up that module." Kaidan leaned back in his chair. Vashlani started poking the buttons trying to get the Mako's door to open.

"Hey, stop that. What do you think you're doing?" Ashley yelled just as the door opened and Vashlani popped out of the Mako like a cork and ran for the creatures.

"Oh shit, let's move." Shepard unbuckled her belt, and they all started running.

They found the one that had the module and Shepard cornered Vashlani before he could make it to the door out of the underground area. "Don't do it, Vashlani. Put it down, now."

"Vashlani doesn't know what you're talking about, Shepard." He edged away while keeping his back turned away from her.

"Put the space monkey down; you can't have it. You can't eat it or take it home with you. Drop it, Vashlani."

"Vashlani has no idea what you mean. He has no tasty looking space monkey behind his back." The hidden creature chose that moment to stick it's tail out to the side.

"Then why is there a space monkey tail sticking out from behind you?" Shepard tried not to laugh at the wistful sigh that he gave as he dropped the creature.

"First those pink jellies and now this tasty looking thing. Vashlani can't have anything."

Shepard wrapped her arm around him and led him toward the opening only to be ambushed by geth. When the synthetics shot several of the creatures, Vashlani started to yell and sent out lightning bolts that blew them up one after the other.

Ashley and Kaidan ducked behind several containers and stared at each other. Shepard said over their private channels that the geth shouldn't have made him angry by killing the monkeys like that. Using them for food was apparently alright, but just killing them for no good reason was too much for the khajiit.

When the debris finished falling, all the geth lay scattered around the underground area and Vashlani stood there panting heavily. "Come on, let's get this module back to the ship." Shepard patted him on the back as they made their way to the Mako.

 

* * *

 

Vashlani disappeared again after they returned to the Normandy. Shepard fielded the questions that the other two had about what they had witnessed only saying that Vashlani was on their side, and she trusted him.

Vashlani was down in the practice room using a piece of the charcoal to practice drawing the portal circles when he received a message from Shepard. They had several more stops to make yet if he was interested, he wrote back and declined.

The khajiit wanted to learn how to do this. For the magic of the rings and medallions that he wanted to make for his new friends to work, he needed the portal to be fully functional, which meant he needed to know the spell and unlock it.

When Vashlani thought he had the circle drawn exactly as it showed in the journal, he started to recite the spell. He kept at it each morning after eating. Vashlani spent all day in the practice room reciting the spell, only taking short breaks to go and talk with Shepard or the others before he returned and started again.

Finally, after several weeks the words reacted, and the circle flashed briefly. Since it was charcoal instead of the magical marking chalks, Vashlani knew that it wouldn't be permanent, but now he could activate his portal and do what he needed to do.

If read correctly the swirling light that filled the portal would turn blue. Vashlani said the incantation and the white fog turned a sky blue. He smiled and took out 4 of the medallions and an amulet from the box. Then he carefully lifted down one of the magical inks and penned a portal scroll. As soon as the ink stopped shimmering on the paper, he rolled it up and tied it with one of the ribbons from the cabinet before he tucked it into his pouch.

He held up the last of the medallions watching the incandescence fade from it until only a very light shimmer remained when he heard the sound of an incoming message.

~*~  
To: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net  
From: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net

Vashlani, I just got contacted with a lead on Saren, I really would like you to accompany us as it is a rescue mission as well and we may need your healing. Please come to the ship as quickly as you can, and be prepared for a long, tough fight. Expect a lot of geth, but prepare for almost anything. We may not be able to let you go back to your home to make more potions.

To: CrimSon_Terror@Normandy.net  
From: Blu_I_Kitty@Normandy.net

Vashlani understands, and he will prepare accordingly. I'll be there as soon as I can.

~*~

Vashlani ran to the alchemy chest and pulled out all of the healing and magic potions he had in stock. After that, he checked the items his Master had left him and placed the Staff of Fireballs and the one for summoning Storm Atronachs in his pouch. He grabbed his tabard that had been enchanted to help with his destructive magics along with a necklace for boosting his healing spells. Vashlani opened the travel bag and made sure it was stocked with more essentials to use outside of battle then took off his ring. He started to run for the lift to take him down to the armory as soon as he had returned to the Normandy.


	17. Chapter 17

* * *

 

 

"Commander, I'm picking up a scrambled signal from that salarian team." Joker worked the panels as she and Vashlani looked out the window.

"Would you look at those towers, I think they're AA Guns," Kaidan said from the seat next to Joker as he helped the navigator.

"AA Gun?"

"It means anti-aircraft gun, Vashlani. Those guns will fire at things that flew in a predetermined area of the air around them. In other words, they'll shoot at anything that flies near them."

"They'll shoot at the Normandy?" Vashlani went back to looking out the window.

"Yeah, but I can do a drop of you guys in the Mako along that strip of beach. Then all you need to do is take out those guns so I can bring the Normandy into where the STG team signaled from."

"Oh, is that all? Sounds like it a cake walk." Shepard mumbled as she looked out the windows again. She turned and headed down the ramp heading for the lift, Vashlani right behind her. Joker and Kaidan started to laugh as they heard Vashlani asking her about this cake that walks and where he could get one. Shepard had to stop and rub her forehead while explaining it was a human expression, and no cake walks.

Garrus sat in the gunner's seat while Vashlani sat up in the front with Shepard. Liara sat in the back holding onto the strap as Shepard sped her way down the sandy shore. Vashlani gave a startled gasp as she ran over the pod crabs that walked on the beach. "No, you can't have one. They may be stupid, but they eat mollusks, and you don't have a beach at your house." She jerked the wheel and skidded around the corner, and ran over several more of the crab-like creatures as Garrus shot a large geth armature that fired on them.

"Drones ahead." Garrus used the Mako's mini guns to take out as many as he could, but the damn drones were small and fast. Shepard skidded to a halt, and Vashlani jumped out of the vehicle. He cast a chain lightning spell that jumped from one to the other before he dove back into the vehicle. The door wasn't even fully closed before Shepard had already accelerated, tearing down the beach at full speed.

"Shepard, that was the last tower." Vashlani applied a healing salve to Liara's hands; they were burned slightly when the gloves of her armor became damaged from an exploding rocket. He wrapped a linen bandage around them then helped to get her gloves back on as they drove under the gatehouse. Joker came over the radio saying the way was clear for him to approach the salarian's camp and he would see them there. Shepard gunned the Mako again, and Vashlani came close to being thrown into the dashboard.

"Commander, the Normandy has touched down at the camp, but we've got a problem," Joker said as they skidded around the corner and came upon the camp.

"What kind of problem?"

"You'll see when you talk to the salarian in charge." Shepard frowned at her pilot's response and to the horror of the other passengers pushed the speed on the Mako even more.

When she stopped the Mako, and everyone got out, they heard arguing at one of the larger tents. Shepard headed for it when she saw two of the people there were Ashley and Kaidan, and they seemed to be in a heated discussion with a salarian.

Garrus and Liara split up but stayed relatively close to Shepard.

Vashlani wandered along the beach and picked up broken shells and spoke to a few of the salarians. He thought they smelled like frogs. He started to head toward where the others were when he heard Wrex yell at the salarian that krogans weren't a mistake. He saw Wrex stomp down toward the end of the beach, right before an inlet, then Shepard said something to the salarian before she followed Wrex. Vashlani trailed after her and listened to what they said.

"Wrex, you know we have to get rid of that so called 'cure.' We don't even know if it is a cure or if Saren told them it was just to get your people to become fodder."

"Shepard, my people need that cure. How do you know it doesn't work?"

"It's what my people once referred to as a Catch-22 situation, we don't know if it does work, we also don't know that it doesn't. But what I do know is, to Saren those krogan are expendable, nothing more than fodder. Slaves for Saren, he doesn't give a rat's ass about helping your people, only using them."

Vashlani frowned, he couldn't detect any disease in Wrex. "Why would Wrex need a cure?"

Wrex growled then turned starting to shoot at the water as Shepard explained what had happened to his people. "So this Genophage is like Joker's Vrolik's, not contracted but was born to them?"

"Yes, Cub. The damn salarians and turians neutered my people after we stopped the Rachni. The krogan's did something stupid, and we have been paying for our mistake for over a thousand years now."

"Hmm. Well, I don't know if it will work." He reached into his pack and drew out a bottle that had a swirling blue liquid inside of it, "You can have this. I make these to cure diseases that are contracted, like Rockjoint or Ataxia, it eased Joker's genetic disorder somewhat. Maybe it can help you some too?"

Wrex looked at him then at the bottle the snarling curl of his thin lips slowly eased from his face. "Finding a fertile female and having the child be stillborn, that's what's killing the krogan, but thanks for the offer, Cub. Maybe when this Saren business is over with, I'll take one of those drinks and give it to one of our females."

"Okay." Vashlani tucked the phial back into his pack.

The big krogan only let out a grunt. "Let's go stop Saren, Shepard, and get the hell off this planet." Wrex went back to shooting into the water, and Shepard placed a hand on the krogan's shoulder then went to check in with the rest of the crew while Vashlani stood with Wrex and talked for awhile.

"What the hell do you mean by, 'You need one of my people to go with you'? It's bad enough jerry-rigging a bomb..." Shepard squared off in front of the salarian.

"It is necessary to coordinate between the teams, Commander." The salarian was a matter of fact in what he said to her; he knew that the plan consigned his men to death. Their assault on the base was to keep the geth's attention from Shepard's shadow team.

"I'll go, Commander." Kaidan spoke up, and Williams looked at him, "Skipper needs you to arm that bomb, LT. You have more tech knowledge; I'm a soldier." While they argued back and forth, Shepard let out a frustrated sigh and thought who would be necessary to arm that bomb and protect it.

"Williams, you'll go with Kirrahe's men, and no heroics, Chief. I want all of us to get out of this mess if we can."

"Aye, Aye, Commander."

While Kirrahe directed his men on how to construct the bomb from their ship's drive system then instructed the Marines and Kaidan on how to set it up and program it, Shepard talked to the rest of her crew and purchased a few necessary items from one of the salarians.

Vashlani frowned when he heard what a bomb was and that there was a high possibility that Chief Williams would be a casualty. Well, that they all could be, if they couldn't finish up the mission and get their asses on the Normandy and off the planet before it went up in a mushroom cloud.

As they split up, Shepard had Kaidan, Wrex, and Vashlani, who insisted he come along, in her group and they kept in contact with Kirrahe and Williams. They took down a geth communications tower then moved on, and they heard Kirrahe and Williams talking about how something had disrupted the geth's targeting systems. Then they heard Kirrahe telling one of the other teams to watch for satellite strikes. Shepard picked up the pace, and they found another Geth outpost further along the pathway.

As Wrex gathered the dropped items and Shepard hacked into a nearby storage container, she called out to Vashlani. "Vashlani, do you see that big dish-like thing on the top? Knock it down with something."

Vashlani moved back a few steps and looked up at the object when he found a spot with a clear view of it. He raised his right hand, a ball of extreme cold formed in his palm, then he threw it. They watched as it connected with the device and it started to rapidly freeze then shatter.

"I haven't seen that one before," Shepard said to him as they rejoined him.

He gave a slight chuckle. "Vashlani threw a snowball at it. It was one of Master's old spells that he had just learned. Fire and cold aren't my specialties, but there have been more than enough occasions where something other than sparks and lightning would be a better spell choice. This khajiit thought would get in some practice while he could." Vashlani walked over to the downed krogan and turned it over, neither one of the others said anything as he examined it.

Williams called out about drones going back to refuel, and Shepard pointed to the one she spotted. After killing the geth trooper that guarded the entrance to the refueling area they moved in, taking out the geth and their drones when they blew up the fuel tanks. They worked their way toward the base and heard that the air strikes never showed. At least their actions helped more of the other teams to survive.

At one point Vashlani told them to hold up a second. He turned the krogan they had just killed over and looked at it. "Wrex, something is wrong with these krogans. They don't smell right. Shepard, when Vashlani told you about the way all humans smell like a man, there are also distinctive scents. With these krogans, they smell like Wrex, but . . . They have no distinctive scent to tell one from another. They all smell like the same krogan, and there is the smell of corruption, one like I've never come across before in my travels or studies."

Shepard glanced at Wrex, "So it's not a cure, after all. Saren isn't breeding an army; he's creating an army of krogan clones." Vashlani didn't understand what a clone was and frowned when he found out about them. To him creating a clone was just as unnatural as necromancy.

After they opened the outer door to the base and started in, Kaidan pointed to something near one of the doors. "Commander, there's a security panel. We can gain access to the alarms for the base here. We can turn them off, or I can trip the ones on the far side of the base, but if we do that, then Kirrahe's men may be overrun."

She had Kaidan just disable the alarms, the four of them should be able to handle anything inside the base. When Kaidan signaled, they moved to the far door and opened it. Salarians attacked them when they walked through the door. Kaidan remarked about how Kirrahe had said they had lost men on an earlier try to infiltrate the base. Wrex opened the door, and they heard the sound of the water and a salarian voice called out warily, "Hello? Is someone out there?"

Shepard didn't see a way down so kept on going, after killing the salarians in the next room, she found the way down to where the voice had come from earlier. They found a lone salarian who told them that he was one of the captured STG from earlier and how they had known about the krogan facility. He also told them how the salarians had found out that Saren began using indoctrination to control his people. It was one of the things that the turian studied at the facility. When Shepard asked for more information, he told her that even though Saren didn't know how it worked he used it anyway and that the results were in the next room. The cell contained his men; he had watched them turned into mindless husks, and he didn't want that to happen to him.

"Vashlani, what do you think, can you smell the corruption on this guy?"

The khajiit moved as close to the cell as he could. "I don't know, Shepard. The salarian's scent is blocked by the glass too much for me to say for certain."

Shepard reached for the panel, "Get one of those snowballs ready, just in case." She looked up at the salarian, "I'm going to let you out, we're nuking this place, so you're on your own."

"I understand. Run and don't look back and hope I can get far enough away. It's a better chance than what I had before you arrived." The panel slid open, and he briefly nodded, "Thank you, human. Good luck to you. You'll need it." Then he ran away as fast as he could. She moved to the next cell, and they saw several more Salarians just standing there, not talking and barely walking around the small room.

"Open the cell, Kaidan."

"Are you sure about this, Commander? From what that other salarian said they could be dangerous."

"If they attack we kill them, but they seem harmless enough, and I would rather give them a chance than no chance at all." She watched as Kaidan opened the panel and the ones inside didn't do anything. They made no move to leave, just stood there. She let out a sigh, and they backed away, heading back up to the other room where they had noticed another door and what looked like a lift.

They bypassed the lift for the other door that led to a set of stairs going upwards; they saw more cells with salarians in them. They approached one, and the salarian inside seemed to be from the same unit, only this one was agitated. He acted irrationally, not like the one from the other cell.

"This one isn't like the other one Shepard; something is wrong with him." Wrex motioned to the glass pane, and they watched as the salarian inside kept muttering and complaining about the whispering.

"I think you're right, Wrex. This one seems dangerous; we can't take the chance."

"No! Let me out, let me out of here. I have to follow the orders! LET ME OUT!" The salarian screamed and ran for the glass pane, the sickening crack of his skull when it shattered and his neck breaking from the impact was loud in the quiet room.

They headed out the other doorway and killed the indoctrinated guards that were there. Nothing was there but for stairs going down, they saw one door and two halls. The halls ended up connecting, and Wrex pointed out several storage containers. "Shepard, we don't have room for all this stuff," Kaidan said to her as they laid out the weapons, mods, armor pieces and various kits they had picked up along the way. He tried to decide what to keep and what to break down into an omni gel or just leave it.

"What's yours is mine, Vashlani can hold it for you. Just stuff it all in a couple of those storage crates." They all looked at him, and Wrex started laughing and commenting on how a tiny Cub thought he could carry all of that by himself.

"Do it," Shepard told them and watched as they placed it all in as few containers as they could.

Vashlani undid the pouch from the cording that he had wrapped around him and took off his armored glove. He removed a ring then mumbled something before he opened the leather strips. He started humming to himself as he stretched out the top and slipped it over the first container. By this time Wrex had stopped laughing and Kaidan's jaw was on the floor. Vashlani grunted a bit and tipped the first container over and wiggled it into the bag, then moved to the next one. "Wrex, can you lift that end up for me?"

"Uh, sure Cub." He picked it up and Vashlani slid the bag over it. "Kaidan, Shepard, can you tip that other end and push it." They watched as the large box disappeared into the small bag. "There we go. Now we have more room for things." He closed the strings on the bag and tied it back on the cord.

"Shepard, things just keep getting weirder the more I hang around with you," Wrex mumbled as he eyed Vashlani and headed back around to the door. When they opened it, they were attacked by more of the indoctrinated. When they finished they went back up the stairs and into the office area, Shepard pushed the button for the lift, and they waited.

When they stepped out, they saw a husk, like the one they had seen on Eden Prime that started this whole mess, locked in a stasis field. "That's it, whatever that thing is. It has the same smell that those krogans had and the cause of the corruption," Vashlani hissed out, just as the guards noticed them. The krogan doctor and his asari assistant were the last to be defeated.

While Shepard looked over everything, Vashlani used a piece of broken machinery to turn the husk over onto it's back. "Be careful with that Vashlani, we don't know how indoctrination works."

He nodded and continued to study it. "This is strange. It's mechanical with traces of what looked like a person."

Kaidan said, "We saw these on a different planet before you came along. A human that the geth drove this spike through. Those spikes turned the people into these things before our very eyes."

Vashlani stood up and looked at the krogan and asari. "The smell is on them as well, though it is more like the kind with the salarian, overlaid not combined like the other krogans."

Shepard looked down at them then nodded. "Let's get a move on."

Shepard opened the door and destroyed the two geth that stood in front of another door further into the compound. When the team entered the room they heard a voice calling out from under a desk; it asked them not to shoot. The asari came out from under it when she was ordered to and gave them information on Saren and indoctrination. Vashlani moved to the side and circled her; it made her rather nervous. "Here, I can open the door for you; this leads straight to Saren's private labs. See I helped, can I go?"

"She's corrupted, Shepard, same as the krogan and assistant outside, though not as strongly as the mindless salarians." He circled back around to stand next to Wrex. "But she has the stink of indoctrination. She speaks of the captured salarians as test subjects, experimentations, not of them being living people, captured and tortured. Be careful with your decision, Shepard."

She looked at Vashlani then at Kaidan and Wrex. She let out a breath, then turned and fired.

They copied as much intel as they could from the scattered files on her desk then headed out the door that the asari had unlocked. They went in and took the lift to another floor. After getting off, Kaidan pointed out the Prothean beacon that was on a lower level and they cautiously made their way to it. Shepard took a deep breath and reached out, her hands hovered over the control panel. When she froze, her back arched and the muscles in her limbs contracted as she rose in the air, Vashlani took a step forward. Kaidan held onto his arm, "Don't touch her, it's too dangerous. Those beacons can kill people if their brains can't handle the transfer." The moment her feet touched the floor again, and she fell forward Vashlani rushed to her, his hands already glowed with the golden white light of a healing spell.

"Vashlani may not be able to heal the damage to minds, but this khajiit can take away some of your pain."

After a few moments they started back up the stairs, an eerie red hologram greeted them, it hadn't been there before. Shepard questioned it, and she learned its name was Sovereign and what Saren had found wasn't a Reaper ship, but an actual Reaper.

The hologram told her that the Protheans hadn't built the relays or the Citadel, the Reapers did. They let the other civilizations find the station, then once the advanced species reached a point where the Reapers wanted them to be, they would come back and 'save' them by harvesting them before the synthetics killed the organics.

They told her no one built them, that they have been there forever, but they weren't organic. "So you're a machine, and that means someone created you," Shepard said. The creature didn't want to hear it and finally called an end to their "talk." As soon as it did several windows blew out and Joker let them know that Sovereign had turned around and headed back toward the facility, they had to move. Vashlani healed everyone as they ran for the door, moving as quickly as they could toward the breeding facility.

They ran down the long hallways and through a few doors, killing geth and krogan along the way. They exited back to the outside of the base and encountered, even more, geth, drones, and krogan.

Vashlani healed them between using lightning on the geth. They headed up a set of steps and Kaidan turned off the turret controls for the buildings AA gun as the others kept the enemies that had followed them away from him.

When they made it into the building, they stopped long enough for Shepard to restock the team's supply of medigel then headed for the door at the opposite end of the hallway. When the door slid open, they came upon several krogan and more geth, who tried to keep her team from reaching the center of the breeding facility. Kirrahe let them know that they were there and were clearing the area and setting their charges.

Kaidan used a lift on the last drone, and when it dropped, they ran for the enormous door at the end of the waterlogged area. Kirrahe's people finished setting the charges and were bunkering down to hold off enemies.

Joker radioed them and said he was on the way since the AA guns were offline and he could land right next to them. They could off-load the bomb quicker and safer now. Kaidan ran up the ramp to help bring the ordnance down and gently placed it on the ground next to the pillar. He had just walked up to her to let her know they were almost ready when Williams came over the line. She told them that they were pinned down by geth and taking heavy casualties.

Shepard told Joker to get them. Williams said it was too hot, and Kaidan suggested that while he finished setting up the bomb that she and the others get Ashley and the salarians then return there. Shepard looked at him then nodded, "Let's move people."

The passageway leading to the tower swarmed with drones and more krogan. They finally made it through and into the lift. Vashlani healed them, and they got ready for heavy forces as the door opened. When they walked out it was empty. As Shepard opened a crate, Wrex pointed up, "Damn. The geth sent in reinforcements."

Williams told Kaidan about the ship and he confirmed that they had already arrived and had started pouring out all over the bomb site. He told them he had armed the device and Shepard asked him what he thought he was doing.

"I'm making sure this bomb goes off no matter what, now get Williams and get the hell out of here." Of course, Williams argued for them to protect the bomb and to leave her behind. Shepard dropped her head knowing she couldn't make it to both of them in time.

"Shepard, take this. You and Wrex get to Chief Williams and the salarians. When you get there, both of you grab their hands or whatever part of their body you can, and Wrex you hold onto Shepard for everything you're worth. Then read the scroll, Shepard. One word of warning, anyone, and anything that touches you or anyone touching someone that's connected to you will also teleport. That includes enemies. That scroll will take you to a safe room at my home; no one is to leave it or touch or take anything from there. Please, be careful, should an enemy make it into that realm they can quickly destroy it, the dimension will collapse. Everyone and everything inside will disappear. Forever." After he handed her the scroll he ran back towards the lift.

"This khajiit is on his way, Kaidan, he will help you," Vashlani called as he pulled out both of his staffs; holding one in each hand.

"Ashley, did you hear what he said, make sure to relay the intel to the salarians with you, they must not hesitate to grab onto us, or they will be left behind. We are on the way if they start asking questions tell them it is Alliance top secret."

"Copy that, Skipper."

When they reached the top, the salarians were holding off the geth troops as best they could, many of them were dead. Shepard and Wrex started shooting as soon as they got off the lift. When the geth were down, they gathered the salarians as close to Ashley as they could. A stack of containers offered some protection. Wrex yelled and pointed, he had spotted Saren coming their way on a hover board. "Stay here, stay under cover," she hissed at them then she dove to another set of crates to keep Saren away from the others.

When she started talking to Saren, she got the impression that he wouldn't have thought that submission to the Reapers was the best way to save lives, but the Reapers twisted his normal thinking and he became a tool for them. Same as the geth were. Now he was trapped, indoctrinated, but either Sovereign kept him from seeing it, or he just couldn't believe that he had already lost his will to the machine. It got to the point where Saren told her that he couldn't let her undo everything he had accomplished, that she couldn't undo the work that he had done to save countless billions of lives, then he attacked her.

Vashlani ran as fast as he could toward where they had left Kaidan, he saw geth everywhere and Marines fighting as best they could against them. He raised his staff and called for a storm atronach then hooked it to his back as he used the other staff to hit the larger geth with fireballs. He cast his mage armor before he switched to lightning bolts and used the atronach to power the chain lightning spell. When the geth started to drop he yelled at the Marines to get on board, then told Kaidan to hurry, once that atronach ran out of time, it would explode and probably set off those tanks it stood beside.

"Shit." Kaidan finished programming the bomb, and they ran. As they did, the base's alarm started blaring through the compound. The Normandy closed the cargo bay door and began to fly out of the blast radius of the bomb just as the creature exploded, and both of the fuel tanks went up.


	18. Chapter 18

* * *

 

 

When the siren started, Saren dropped Shepard, who ran for where the salarians were holed up. Saren took off on the hover board; he now understood that his geth hadn't stopped the bomb. "Hold on to each other, make sure you have at least one hand on Williams or Wrex and for the love of the Gods don't let go until we tell you too." The salarians looked at each other. "We don't have time for this if you want to live then do what I say and keep your mouth shut."

"Now, Skipper!" Ashley yelled as both she and Wrex grabbed onto Shepard. She broke the seal on the scroll and read.

A most unpleasant feeling hit her stomach for a few seconds then all of them let out a whuff as they landed on a floor in a dark room. She groaned and sat upright. "No one move."

They looked toward the door when it opened, and they saw the red lights from the sphere, she heard a gun power up and yelled out to hold fire.

"Sphere, we need light," she mumbled hoping that Vashlani's Master had programmed the thing to do simple tasks as well. He must have because a few moments later candles lit up around the area and the sphere left.

"Okay, we're safe here, but there are ground rules. One, no questions. Two, don't touch anything because you could kill all of us. Three, don't move from where you're currently sitting. Four, don't take anything and last but not least, no telling another soul about what happened and what you see or will see here."

Kirrahe opened his mouth to say something and Shepard stuck up a finger, "Ah. No questions." She got up to pace and to wait. A short while later they heard booted feet running toward them, and the door was flung open and just as quickly slammed back closed.

Vashlani ran to Shepard and gathered her into an awkward hug, "Thank the Divines you're safe."

She returned his hug, "Thanks to you, Vashlani. I hate to ask this, but the salarians and Ash need healing. Can you help them?" She held onto his forearms as he leaned back from her, his eyes glowed behind the dark faceplate of his helmet, and he nodded.

"Of course." He turned to them and placed his hand on Ashley. "This will not hurt Chief Williams, just relax." His hand glowed and she was enveloped in the warm, golden light. After she had assured him she was well, he moved to the worst of the salarians, healed him and then another before he stopped to pour a potion into his helmet's intake port. Kirrahe was next. The salarian sat blinking at the stranger in armor. Shepard knew all of their minds worked fast and tried to understand what they saw and to find an explanation for it. When Vashlani moved to the last of the salarians, one that sat near a cabinet he stopped, his eyes once more glowed as he cast a different spell.

"Put it back," Vashlani said to the soldier.

The salarian blinked up at him, "I don't understand."

Vashlani let out a growl, "Put back what you have stolen." Kirrahe stood up and move to his side.

The other salarian didn't move. "I don't have anything."

Vashlani's hand formed a ball of ice and Wrex let out a booming laugh, "Uh-oh, he's gone and made Cub mad. I remember what happened to that comm dish when he froze it solid with that tiny ball of ice in his hand. I'm going to love watching him do that to a salarian."

"This is the last time Vashlani will ask nicely, replace what you have stolen from my home."

"That is an order, soldier. This person is part of Commander Shepard's team, and they saved our lives, we do not repay them by stealing from them." Kirrahe stared down at the younger salarian. Finally, the other one shifted and opened a compartment on his suit. He withdrew a sparkling bottle of rainbow ink and several pieces of the multi-colored glittering chalk along with one of the amulets.

"The Salarian Union will want to know about this, Captain. What these humans have done and how we got off that planet. They will want to know of this place. None of us have seen anything like this."

Shepard walked up to him, pistol in hand. "I made it clear that there will be no information shared on this place. I risked my crew and myself to save you. I could have easily run up to Ashley and rescued just her instead of all of you too. And this is how you would repay my friend and me?"

"No. No one will say a word and if they do the rest of us will deny it. Combat stress. It was your Normandy crew that saved us. I'll make sure the others know this as well. What you did for all of us isn't something that we can repay. I will not forget this, Shepard." He looked at each of his men, recovered from their ordeal, when by all worked out scenarios they should be dead.

Vashlani stared at Kirrahe for several moments before letting go of the magic in his hand. "This one will not be healed by me. The Healer can do so when Vashlani takes you to the Normandy."

"Vashlani, I'll take Ashley upstairs and wait for you. Wrex, you go with Vashlani and watch this salarian for him until he's off the ship." Wrex grinned down at the salarian, and the other one only swallowed as his mouth drew down into a frown.

"Vashlani will be back soon, Shepard." Vashlani took Kirrahe's arm and directed each of the remaining salarians to grab onto one another ending up with Vashlani looping an arm through Wrex's arm before he whispered something that put all the candles out. Wrex felt him taking off his glove and then they appeared in the Med-bay.

Before the salarians could understand what happened, Vashlani had his hand covered by the cloak and had the glove back on before Chakwas dropped the decon barrier around him. When the cycle finished, he walked out the door and back to his room.

 

* * *

 

"Skipper, where the hell are we?" Ashley asked as they left the room. They had turned on their helmet's lights as they left the dark room.

"I can't tell you that, Ashley." She started to climb the stairs with Ashley right behind her; they emerged into the magelight bathed upper floor. "Remember not to touch anything. Follow me."

The two of them sat at the kitchen table with a mead in one hand and a plate of cheese, apple slices and bread on a shiny bronze-colored plate that sat between them on the table when Vashlani reappeared.

"Welcome to my home, how are you feeling, Chief Williams?" Vashlani asked as he took off the helmet and gloves.

"Much better, thank you, for everything. I want to apologize for the way I acted when you first showed up."

He waved away her apology. "Vashlani has encountered it before, as have all khajiit who travel the lands of Skyrim. Do not give it a second thought. Now, Vashlani sees you've had something to eat and drink, he can offer you a shower and a robe to change into if you would like to stay awhile or he can take you back to the Normandy."

"I should get back. I have weapons to clean, and I think I should help Wrex with those salarians until we can get them to the rendezvous point." She stood and popped another apple slice into her mouth.

"Of course, and you Shepard?"

"I think I'll take you up on that shower. I want to go outside while it's still light out there and take another look around." She stood and looked around for someplace to dispose of their bottles and uneaten food. "Where do I..." The sphere rolled up and started to clean the table.

"Chief, if you would kindly wait here a moment. Shepard, follow me please." He showed her the bathroom and laid a robe on the bed for her to change into after her shower. "This khajiit suggests you do not put your armor in the basket; the sphere will dump it into the pond. You can pass it to me, and I will take it back to the Normandy for you."

She raised her eyebrow then stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. After she had stripped off her armor, she wrapped a thick fuzzy towel around herself and pushed her gear out the door.

Vashlani stopped long enough in his study to scribe another Scroll of Binding then headed for the kitchen.

"Chief Williams, as you may have guessed my home is very different than anything that your people have. Very few know about it, and Vashlani would like to keep it that way. This place is unique and incredibly rare." He handed her a scroll, "I wrote a Binding Spell on that scroll, it's something like a spell to keep this place a secret should someone try to make you divulge it. This khajiit asks that you read the scroll, and answer two questions so that the binding is complete."

She looked at the scroll then back at him.

"If it would make you feel better, know that Shepard and several others have already done this, and it hasn't harmed them." He patiently waited for her to decide to read it. He wasn't sure what he could do if she chose not to. Shepard wouldn't like it if Chief Williams just disappeared. She tapped the scroll then pulled the ribbon. He smiled as she finished reading the scroll and answered the questions.

"Would you like a few apples or maybe a drink to take along with you? Or would you like to see the outside of my home before we leave?"

"I wouldn't mind another apple or two to take back; I can share it with Kaidan."

"That is a good idea, just give Vashlani a few moments." He moved to the box and placed his hand on the top, a moment later he opened it and pulled out several small sacks, two red and two green apples along with a loaf of herb bread and placed them in the first bag. In a second bag, he put a couple of bottles of mead and apple cider, the third he filled with small sweet smelling balls covered in crushed nuts. Vashlani smiled at her, "Are you ready to go back to your ship now?" At her nod, he took her by the hand.

 

* * *

 

Shepard rifled through the baskets of soap and found a blue one that smelled of flowers and fiddled with the water knobs until she figured them out. She took a hot shower, something that she hadn't had in awhile since on board the ship it was more economical to have one that sprayed a decon mist. Shepard washed her hair several times relishing the feeling of being clean, not just disinfected. Finally, she gave a contented sigh and shut off the water and placed her bar of soap next to the smaller red one that was on a high shelf inside the shower area. She dried herself and dropped the used towels into the only basket in the bathroom, and she supposed that was what the sphere used for carrying the dirty clothes or used towels in to wash them.

She shrugged then poked her head out the door to make sure the coast was clear before she walked to the bed. She picked up the blue and silver robe and looked at it. The clothing was simple enough, just a long sleeved sheath. She slipped it on and adjusted the collar to keep it from falling off one of her shoulders. She wanted to snoop inside his wardrobes and dressers but had no idea what might happen. She did pick up the book that sat on his nightstand and read the title of it, Azura and the Box, she grinned and put it back. She caught sight of the Blasto plushie sitting on top of a display shelf and let out a small laugh.

She made her way back downstairs and out the door, taking a walk down next to the pond. She turned around when she heard something behind her. She saw the sphere carrying the basket of towels; she sat and watched it put the basket down then head back to the house, only to return minutes later with a scrubbing tub and soap.

After watching the sphere for a few more minutes, she went into the greenhouse then through the other opening into the new one they had built. She stood in astonishment as the plants looked to be full size and already producing items.

"Ahh, there you are. Enjoying the greenhouse? These new plants are excellent. Vashlani has yet to experiment with creating potions, but they do add a nice flavor to some of the Elsweyr foods he makes."

She whirled at the sound of his voice coming from behind her. "I can't believe this; it's amazing."

She blushed a bit as she noticed his blue eyes wander over her.

"Hmm, if Vashlani were able to travel to his world he would buy you a more suitable robe or dress to wear." She tugged up the collar a bit more and raised her eyebrow. He only grinned at her. They spent several more hours wandering around. She petted one of the goats who stood there lazily chewing away on some meadow grass with several of the flowers sticking from its mouth.

He glanced up and noticed the fading of the day's magelight. "The night cycle will be starting here soon. You are welcome to stay for dinner or return to the Normandy. This khajiit would offer a bed for the evening so you can relax some more, but as he only has the one bed you may not be comfortable sharing it... yet."

She flushed, "That's alright, I have enjoyed my stay here. I should get back; I'm sure we shall be getting to the drop off point soon."

He let out a hum and wrapped her arm around his. They reappeared in his room, and he walked her to her quarters. Several people eyed her with raised eyebrows as she walked past wearing one of Vashlani's robes and bare feet. Chakwas nudged Joker and tipped her head. He snorted and mumbled something to her that caused her to giggle.

He stood outside her door and told her quietly that as soon as the salarians were off the ship and the cargo bay cleared he would bring the containers out of the bag. "Vashlani shall see you later, Shepard." He gave her a slight bow and headed back to his room. He stopped and whispered to Joker that he never said he was celibate. Joker started to cough as the realization that he had heard the comment to Chakwas from clear across the room.

 

* * *

 

They just dropped off the salarians when a call came through for Shepard. "Shepard, this is Admiral Hackett. The 5th Fleet just received a report from the Systems Alliance Headquarters, a VI on Luna went rogue and killed several people. The systems can't be turned off remotely since it is a fully contained system. You'll need to go there and shut it down manually." Shepard received some more information then cut the connection. She called the others to the debriefing room and let them know about the new mission.

They also went over everything they had learned concerning Saren and the Reapers and all of them agreed; they needed to get to Ilos, the planet that Liara had recognized from the Cipher given to them on Feros. To get there, they needed to go through the Mu Relay. They had to find that Conduit before Saren and stop him, and it had to be on Ilos.

Shortly after they left, she got a message from the Council wanting her to return to the Citadel. She told them as soon as she completed the prior request of Hackett's she would go there. They didn't tell her what it was about, and she started to wonder.

Vashlani had just finished drawing the portal glyph on the floor of his room on the Normandy when Joker told him that they were approaching the Sol Relay, it was where the Humans were originally from, and he shouldn't miss it. "Will be there in a minute, Joker." He took several deep breaths and recited the incantation, a bright glow lit up the room and shimmered for several seconds. He opened his eyes and watched as the spell faded, and the chalk markings blended into the floor panels. He grabbed his pack and ran up to the bridge.

Joker showed him Earth as the others were tackling the VI problem on Luna, only it wasn't a VI any longer it was an emergent AI. Vashlani asked for a vid of Earth, like the one that Joker had made of their approach to the Citadel, and have it sent to his folder in the databank. He had since downloaded the Citadel vid and many more things he had found interesting from other people's folders; Shepard had promised him an upgraded datapad when they reached the Citadel. Apparently, his love of taking holos ate up the data pad's storage space quickly. When asked why he kept so much on the pad and not just leaving it on the ship's databank he told her the pad couldn't access the databank from the bag, only receive and send messages.

When Joker got the call for pickup Vashlani headed to the med-bay to heal anyone that needed it.

"Joker set a course for the Citadel," Shepard said as she rested on the medical gurney. Doctor Chakwas insisted on giving her a full scan even after Vashlani healed the numerous gunshot wounds and had her drink a cure poison potion.

"Aye aye, Commander. ETA is 6 hours."

Vashlani stood in the portal room and made the entry for the Normandy's connection, once the script stop glowing he closed the book and headed back out to the ship. He was down in the armory when Shepard made an announcement.

"Attention all crew. We are on approach to the Citadel; this is not a shore leave visit. There's enough time to pick up essentials and come back. As soon as my business with the Council concludes we'll be leaving to head for the Mu Relay to stop Saren." Vashlani started to put on his armor when Garrus came to stand next to him.

"Vashlani, Shepard asked me to accompany you to buy a new datapad while she's at the Council meeting. There's a place not too far from where I can get some dextro supplies, and I think Tali's tagging along with us." Vashlani smiled at him as he placed the helmet on his head and heard the seals engage.

"Alright, Garrus. Vashlani will need your help with the datapads." Vashlani put on his cloak and Tali, who had just come up to them, helped to twitch it into place to hide the ears of the helmet and tail.

"We got you covered." Garrus patted him on the shoulder, and the three of them headed up to the CIC deck as Joker announced docking had finished.

 

* * *

 

Vashlani sat on a crate next to the Mako watching Garrus transfer everything from his old datapad to the new one. He had happily purred when Garrus picked out one for him; Garrus told him it would store almost five times as much as the old one. And it only needed a small amount of light to keep the battery charged, so the magelight inside his pocket bag would work. The camera was also much better. He also added upgrades to the security software on it for him. He was in the middle of transferring the vid that Vashlani's helmet made of the visit to the shops when they heard the ship's comm activate.

Joker's agitated voice came over the comm system. "Attention crew, this is Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, we have a situation. Shepard sent a notice through that as soon as she returns, the Normandy will be locked down until further notice. The Council has determined that the Reapers are not real. They believe that everything we have seen and done was contrived by Saren to trick us into thinking that the Reapers were a threat, while he built up an army of geth just to attack the Citadel and destroy the Council... morons. As of this moment, all crew members are on a Code A leave, they have grounded the Normandy. For the non-Alliance members of our crew, this means you need to collect your belongings and exit the ship, but don't go far. If she figures out a way to get the Council to listen, you will need to return immediately to attend a ship wide debrief. By immediately, she means within one hour of her call going out; you need to be on this ship and at your stations, ready to haul ass. So like I said... don't go too far. Joker out."

Vashlani looked at Garrus when the turian let out a growl; he heard Ashley slam a locker door followed by Kaidan coming off the lift, only to kick a crate into the wall as he went to his locker. "What happened? Vashlani doesn't understand."

"The leaders think Saren tricked Shepard. They're trying to stop her from going to the Mu Relay. Once the orders are given for a ship to be grounded, it can't leave the port. To do so is considered mutiny. An offense punishable by losing your military rank, imprisonment, and in some cases execution. Come on, get your armor back on and make sure your bag is out of the locker and that you have left nothing on the ship. Joker needs to purge anything that has your likeness or voice on it from the ship's system." Garrus made an immediate transfer of anything that hadn't already been copied to the data pad then deleted Vashlani's data folder.

"Joker, you need to scan the system for anything concerning Vashlani."

"Already on it, I had to wait for the folder to get deleted and for Doc to clear her files."

Garrus handed Vashlani the datapad then walked to his locker. He removed his extra armor and stuffed it into the hard case before he picked up his weapon cases from Ashley.

Vashlani put on his armor as he looked around at the rest of the crew who had come down to gather their things, all of them looked angry. He had just slipped his pack on when the announcement that the Commander was on board came through. All of the crew started to board the lift to leave the ship. Vashlani saw Joker still sitting in his usual chair and moved out of the way to talk to him. "You aren't leaving?"

"Nah, not yet. The Commander and I will be the last ones to exit the ship. I have to secure everything and prepare the ship for drydock. Someone has to remain on board to field the incoming messages and redirect them to the Alliance, at least until the goons set up their automated system. Once the Commander's ready and the ship's scan comes back, then it will be my turn to leave. Then the vultures come in to try and pick through the databanks for anything that could be used against the Commander and show how crazy or delusional she was to think that giant squid ships were their impending doom and not the geth."

Vashlani let out a humming sound then placed a hand on Joker's shoulder. Even though Joker's bones had gained density, they weren't completely safe from breakage, so Vashlani was careful not to pat too hard.

"Come on Vashlani, looks like the crew might head to the closest market district. The place is full of bars and enough places to sit that we can all hang out for a few hours until they tell us otherwise." Garrus nodded toward the airlock.

Ashley muttered that it was all bullshit and stomped into the decon chamber to wait for the rest of them so it could be turned on.

 

* * *

 

Shepard sat in front of her locker going over everything she had told them and wondered where she had gone wrong. What had she left out that could have shown them that she had been right? She let out an annoyed sigh then realized it wouldn't have mattered in the least; they had made up their minds a long time ago, and nothing would have changed them. She took off her armor and replaced it with the robe that Vashlani had never bothered to ask for, then picked up her bag and stopped at the bridge on the way out. "Joker, are you almost done here?" He nodded then muttered about no one better steal their brand new silverware before setting the locks and following her out.

They met up with the rest of the ground crew at a bar in the lower ward. All of them were talking animatedly, and the shimmer of one of Tali's little projects let her know there was a sound barrier around the group. After they gave her shit about wearing some of Vashlani's clothing, while he only laughed, the two newcomers listened as what they had been talking about was recapped for them.

"Skipper, have you tried going to Udina?" Ashley drank a strange looking purple and pink concoction while Shepard snorted.

"Ash, he was right there with them, didn't even bother trying to talk to them. He just agreed with them while looking like a pompous asshat."

"What about an appeal on their decision?" Kaidan asked as he drank what looked like weak tea.

Shepard shook her head, "Already tried it, Kaidan. They denied it as soon as I asked. No, they are bound and determined to close their eyes and stuff their heads up their asses so they can ignore the real threat. I don't doubt for a minute that even if a Reaper appeared right here that they would say it didn't exist. That denial of what is right in front of them will get everyone killed, but there's nothing we can do. They grounded us."

Joker's omni tool went off, and he read the forwarded message from the Normandy VI. "Maybe there's something we can do. Shepard, a call just came through from Anderson, he wants to meet you at Flux as soon as you can."

Shepard looked at him then slid out of the seat. "Garrus and Vashlani, come with me. The rest of you start making your way back to the ship, don't look too conspicuous until I find out what's happening. Let the others know to start back, look casual and don't rush. If he's got us a way off of here, the last thing we need is to draw too much attention."

When the three of them entered Flux, Vashlani stumbled a bit at all the flashing lights and loud music, he stopped to watch the ones on the dance floor then followed after Shepard. "Garrus? What's wrong with those people? Are they ill? They're flailing around like they're in great pain."

Garrus started to laugh and told him that they were dancing. Vashlani chuckled and shook his head, "That's not dancing. It looks like they're having fever convulsions." They turned their attention back to the conversation between Shepard and Anderson. He told them that he believed her and knew the real enemy was the Reapers. He agreed to help them by releasing the dock locks on the Normandy, but it had to be quick and he could either do it using Udina's terminal or go through C-Sec. Anderson told them that he had no way to unlock the Normandy's controls or open its doors.

"It won't do any good if none of us can get on the ship. Won't Udina have those codes as well?" Shepard watched as Anderson crossed his arms and shook his head.

"No, Shepard. Only the technicians that changed the locking codes have them."

Vashlani shifted on his feet. "What about Joker? Can he change them? If he was on the bridge where he works?"

"Joker could most likely do it; he's got that thing so full of specialized coding that he's got to have a way in." Shepard opened her omni tool and sent him a message. A few seconds later one came back. It read, 'Hell yeah, I could.'

"That still doesn't solve how to get him through the lockdown," Anderson said to them.

"Let Vashlani take care of getting Joker on the Normandy. Shepard, make sure the people are ready. I will need a few minutes to get to Joker and get him on the ship." He waited for her okay then he took off running, Garrus was right behind him showing him the fastest way to the ship. Shepard sent Joker a message to be at the Normandy, then another to the entire crew.

"Okay, Anderson, everyone will be ready within an hour. Will that give you enough time to get to Udina's office and use the computer?" He gave a brief nod, and they both stood, shook hands with a be careful and good luck to each of them before Shepard headed toward the ship.

 

* * *

 

"Joker, you ready?" Vashlani stood by him as they hid behind a huge stack of shipping crates. Garrus corralled the others near the cargo door, once it came down the entire crew could run for it, instead of all of them trying to file through the main airlock. A quick ship-wide decon would run after the door closed. They saw Shepard come off the lift, and Joker nodded. A breath later they arrived in Vashlani's home, and Joker used the mini lift to go down into the cellar as Vashlani ran down the stairs. "This way Joker, this next part you must be careful, it could hurt as you land." Less than five minutes later the cargo doors started to come down, and the crew ran for it.

"Attention crew, as you know what we are about to do is a felony offense. This is your last chance to leave without repercussions to you in any way. In the next ten minutes, those that do not want to join us can go through the main airlock. After that time the ship will be locked and as soon as the dock's locks have opened we will be gone. There will be no returning until after we stop Saren."

Shepard stood behind Joker's chair waiting for anyone to come up to get off the ship when the time was up she nodded to Joker who locked the ship down and scrambled the door codes again. As soon as the light on the docking alert went from red to green he moved the Normandy from the docking bay and sped toward the mass relay before any of the C-Sec ships could scramble and respond. Since the Council never bothered asking where the Mu Relay was, they couldn't follow them.

"ETA to Ilos is 16 hours, Commander."

"Good work, Joker." Shepard patted the back of the chair before she turned and left.

 

* * *

 

She sat at her desk when the entry chime sounded. "Come in."

Vashlani entered and approached her. "Shepard, do you have a moment? Vashlani would like to speak to you."

"Sure." She gestured to the couch, and after he had sat down, she moved her chair closer.

"Vashlani has a gift for you. For a few of the others as well, but would like to give yours to you first." He reached into a leather pouch that was the size of her palm and withdrew one of the small medallions. "Vashlani's Master crafted these at the forge sometime before he died. They were to be enchanted as gifts for Vashlani's closest, most trusted friends and family. Not just any enchant but a very special one. The room that you landed in when you rescued Ashley, it is called a portal chamber. Vashlani had only heard rumors of such things, though, and I didn't believe they truly existed. Vashlani's Master was full of surprises." He shifted and cleared his throat. "Vashlani's Master wrote a spell, an enchantment that Vashlani was to learn."

He handed the medallion to Shepard. "That medallion will serve as a link between us. When this khajiit is in his bag or not close by, and you have great need of me, you can call for me, using a unique phrase he will teach you. The medallion would give off a radiant glow if you said the phrase correctly. Mine will also shine." He held out the larger amulet that was on the chain around his neck. "The amulet and medallion are connected to the portal in that room. Once it connects to the medallion, Vashlani can use it to come to your side. Understand that it is to be used only in an emergency, and you must be careful where you use it. Both the knowledge of the medallion and the key phrase is protected under the binding that we performed earlier. All you can say would be, it was a gift, and it's just a medallion, nothing special."

"So if I say the phrase and this lights up, can I go to where you are?"

"No, the magic doesn't work that way. No, only someone that has a knowledge of the spell and the ability to cast it-- to activate the portal-- can come through. Do you have more questions? Or are you ready to learn the phrase; you must say it precisely."

She rubbed the medallion; her thumb caressed the strange symbols on it. "I'm ready."

He smiled at her then for the next two hours went over the words. She got frustrated when it didn't work. He stood up and pulled her out of the chair and went behind her. "Close your eyes. Breathe through your nose and out your mouth. Good; once more." His hands were on her shoulders and moved down to her wrists. "Relax." He started a deep purr in his chest as he moved her hands in a pattern. "Breathe again. In and out." He felt her loosen up and start to relax. "That's it. Now once more, say the key phrase." His deep purring voice was next to her ear as she slowly said the phrase. "Now open your eyes, Shepard."

She opened them and hung from the chain around her neck was the medallion, a bright blue radiance shone from it for a moment before it faded to a slight glimmer. "You knew the words but were too tense and frustration set in. It is common. In those situations, breathe and try to bring a bit of calm into your mind, then say your phrase. Now, relax and say it once more." He smiled at her as the medallions activated again.

His next stop was to Doctor Chakwas, he gave her a medallion and told her the same thing as Shepard. Her medallion lit up after an hour of practice.

He jogged up the steps leading to the bridge area and took his usual seat next to Joker. He told him the same thing, Joker slipped the medallion on the chain with his tags and said the words. Vashlani laughed as the medallion blazed after several repeats of the phrase. When Vashlani had him do it again, he shrugged and said the words. The medallion and amulet lit up.

Vashlani yawned as he made his way down to the cargo hold, he found Garrus messing around next to the Mako. Wrex and Ashley were at their usual spots across the deck. "Garrus, Vashlani has something he would like to give you, but not where others can see." Garrus followed him around to the other side of the vehicle and waited. Vashlani handed him the medallion and explained what it was for, then had him practice his phrase.

After three hours Vashlani sat on the floor with his head resting on his knees. "Vashlani doesn't understand why it isn't working. The others all work."

Garrus let out a tired sounding sigh and tried the phrase again and again with no results. "Maybe it's because I'm tired? I've worked on the Mako since I got back. Maybe we can try it again before we reach Ilos tomorrow." He yawned, and his mandibles fluttered before resettling in their usual place.

"Alright, Vashlani is tired too. Goodnight, Garrus."


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

 

 

Vashlani asked Garrus to try his phrase again, still with no success. "Maybe the enchantment didn't work on that one. Hand it to me please." After receiving the piece of jewelry back, he ran up to the bridge and asked Joker to take off the other one and to try that one. Garrus had problems with it, and he needed to check the enchantment. Joker shrugged handed him his tags and said the phrase, the medallion lit up, and Vashlani frowned. "That is most odd." He gave Joker his tags back and went back down to the cargo bay. Joker made the two-hour warning announcement, and they started to suit up.

"Garrus, this linked when Joker used it, Vashlani does not understand why it isn't working for you. He is very sorry."

"Don't worry about it Vashlani; I like the gift anyway. I'll keep trying it; maybe I'll get it right someday." Garrus told him as he latched the seals on his armor. The chain with the medallion tucked under the chest piece.

"Commander, hurry to bridge, we have a problem." Joker's voice came over the comm, and she glanced up at the ceiling then took off running for the lift.

Several minutes later Shepard ran toward the Mako shouting for the ground crew to get on board; they had to do a hot drop, and it would be a dangerous one. When they were settling in on the seats, Vashlani looked over to Shepard who started to prep the Mako. "Hot drop?"

"Hold on to your seat and try not to scream or shit yourself." She pushed a few more buttons, and the Mako fired up, "Joker we're a go."

"Wait... we are still so far...." Vashlani didn't say another word as his stomach rose to his throat as the doors opened under the Mako and the vehicle had to free-fall toward the surface of the planet.

Shepard hit the boosters and floored the vehicle just as it touched down racing toward the opening that Saren and his geth were using to get inside the ancient structure. The door slammed shut before they could make it and Shepard had to swerve and brake before they hit the building itself. "Damn it!"

They all got out of the Mako, and Garrus tried to find the panel to get the door to open, "It won't open. We need to find another way in or a way to bypass the door."

They made their way through the area; Vashlani lagged a bit behind to take holos with his helmet camera of everything. He shot lightning bolts at a few of the geth that he spied behind the twisted trees or statues, only because as he tried to get better holos they had stuck their flashlight heads out or the barrel of their gun showed and he was able to see them. "Vashlani, what the hell? What're you doing?" Garrus hissed at him as once more several lightning bolts went flying over their heads and they heard a geth explode.

"They kept messing up the holo," Vashlani said as he moved over a few inches and pushed aside a vine to take another holo of a statue.

"You created a damn monster Shepard when you showed him how to take holos and vids."

"Shut up Garrus and keep moving. His wanting to take close-ups reveals the damn geth faster and sooner when he uses the camera."

"He's gonna fill up that storage fast. I knew we should have bought that damn removable storage chip too."

"Oh, that will let me take more and keep them safe too?"

Shepard let out a snort, "That one's on you, Garrus. Yeah, it will, in a way, let you have unlimited storage. As long as you have extra chips." She could almost feel his excitement over the prospect of so many holos. "But some of them are expensive, Vashlani. So we will have to wait and see about buying more. Look out, Armature!"

Vashlani started to cast a spell then right before he said the last word he popped his head above the barricade they were using and pointed at the massive geth. They all heard something scream, 'Fail and fall!' and watched as a red and black creature cast fireballs and summoned a bouncing creature that also attacked the geth with fireballs. Shepard stood stunned for a moment watching the things take some pretty severe damage, and Vashlani started tossing lightning bolts at the geth. Garrus wasn't quite so stunned as he remembered seeing something like it before, only that one had a shield and a strange weapon that it was determined to beat him to death with it. He started to fire at the geth, and it seemed confused for a moment as it didn't know who to attack, or maybe it was confused that an organic had popped out of nowhere and started to attack it.

No sooner did they get one of the armatures down then another powered up and came at them. The summoned Dremora turned on it and managed to get off several fireballs before it collapsed. Vashlani didn't summon another just kept sending out bolts as the others fired. They heard an "oof" and saw Vashlani on the ground. Shepard tossed a grenade as Garrus got his overload ready to send. It took them much longer to stop that one as they had to lead it away from Vashlani's prone form. Once it was a pile of scrap metal, they ran to him and found him still unconscious.

Shepard injected his suit with a dose of medigel and ran a scan on him. When that didn't seem to do anything she rooted around in one of the compartments of her suit and brought out the healing potion that she had been holding on to then poured it into his intake slot. A soft golden swirl started to form, and they both let out a sigh. Vashlani began to moan and move his head.

"What happened to Vashlani? He hurts all over."

Garrus let out a relieved sounding laugh, "Spirits, you had us worried. You took a direct hit from an Armature."

Vashlani sat up and looked down at his suit. A smoking ruin of scrap cloth was all that remained of his tabard, and his once pristine armor was quite battered. "Stupid machine. It ruined my outfit."

Shepard and Garrus both started laughing and hauled him to his feet. "We'll fix your armor, and you can replace your clothing thingie when we get back on the Normandy," Shepard said as she slapped him on the back.

They continued, finding a sweet spot that Garrus could set up his sniper rifle and start shooting at geth down in the courtyard below, Vashlani sent down bolts as quickly as he could to assist. Shepard spotted what looked like a container and headed for it as the last of the geth they could see below them; fell.

Eventually, they found an area that had a working lift, and Garrus commented about it having its own power source. When they got off, they were once again attacked by more geth, and Vashlani used his staff to summon another atronach as Shepard tried to hack into one of the control stations. When it activated, that armature started to attack geth as well. Vashlani called out for them to start backing down the hallway because that summons wouldn't be able to handle that much damage anymore. They made it around a small corner when it blew. Garrus could have sworn the whole building shook when it did.

They found a ramp going up and as Shepard fiddled with the control panel to unlock the door; Garrus kept telling her they needed to hurry. Neither one saw Vashlani crouch down and dig up one of the small plants that were about the only thing still alive on the planet. He stuffed it into the pocket bag, dirt and all, before telling Shepard that he noticed something on the panel. When they turned toward it, he dusted off his hands, glad that neither of them could see the huge grin on his face or hear the purr coming from him. He finally got something from this dimension that didn't originate from a shop, and it was rare.

"I didn't understand it, Shepard. Wonder what it said." Garrus said from beside her, his hands gripping the assault rifle, on edge and alert for more geth.

"It gave a warning. It was too garbled, though. It was the Prothean's last transmission, the Reapers had arrived and were winning. It said something like the Citadel being over-run and about an archive. That had to be what Saren entered. We need to hurry back to the door."

When they made it to the door, it had opened up, and Vashlani came to a stumbling halt as he looked down into the area, "Shepard? Do we have to go down in there? It's like a Draugr tomb in there. There's going to be dead bodies creeping out of the holes in the wall and trying to kill us with... things."

"We'll take the Mako, it will give us more firepower, and what the hell is a Draugr?" Garrus asked as they climbed into the vehicle. Shepard was behind the wheel and either running over the geth or hopping over the dips in the road as Vashlani explained that some of the Nord's ancestors were restless, and their bodies would reanimate and attack anything that stumbled into one of the barrows or tombs. Walking skeletons, only somewhat smarter, carried various weapons. Some could also use a frost attack. Then he mumbled how he always hated going down in those things with his Master to gather linen wraps and glowing mushrooms when they traveled to Skyrim together.

Shepard slowed down as they reached a relatively large hill and Vashlani looked through the camera view of the Mako, "What are all those things on the wall?"

"Probably stasis pods. From what that recording said, they retreated to here to try and make it through the war. Most likely those pods became their coffins; fifty thousand years have passed since the Protheans were alive, Vashlani."

He let out a hum and sat back in his seat, and they started moving again and three geth rocket launchers fired on them, they got out for this one and destroyed the geth. They gave Vashlani a few minutes for a couple of holos of the pods then he backed up and moved toward the vehicle his head hung a bit. "What's wrong?" Garrus asked him as they resettled, barely having enough time before Shepard took off down the hill.

"When Master died, he had me to say the prayer and to perform the spell that put his body and soul to rest. These Protheans had no one." The rest of the way neither of the other passengers said anything. When the Mako stopped because of a barrier that blocked their path, they got out and searched around, the only thing they found was a doorway that led to another lift.

As the lift went down, Vashlani looked out the side of it. "Look at them all, Shepard. All these people." She put her hand on his shoulder and tried to impart a bit of comfort. It was hard to imagine so many died. When the door opened, they started down the walkway and at the end was another console. When they approached it, another Prothean VI activated, this one was called Vigil and had been made to take care of the stasis pods and to reactivate them at the end of the war. Only the war last much longer than the Protheans had anticipated, and over time the VI had to begin deactivating the pods one after the other, the ones with the highest priority were last. Only it had been too late, by the time the Reapers had left the system there hadn't been enough left to ensure their species.

It told them that the Citadel was in fact, a massive Mass Relay that linked directly to dark space. When the keepers received the signal, they were to open the relay, and the Reapers would come from dark space and begin the harvest cycle. It told them that those Protheans left had been awakened and in secret developed a program to interrupt the signal so that the Citadel couldn't be activated. It told her that if she could use the program, it would give her temporary control of the Citadel and maybe it would be enough for them to stop Saren and halt the harvest. It let her know that the Conduit was a back door onto the Citadel, a way for the Reapers to send someone to the station to activate the relay in case something stopped the keepers from doing so.

The keepers, it told them, were there to let the races that found the Citadel use it without understanding the technology. That would ensure that no race delved too deeply into it and found out what the Citadel was.

It gave Shepard a copy of the program and explained how to use it. It would lower the barrier once they were outside, Saren hadn't yet reached the Conduit, and if she hurried, she might be able to stop him. They all ran for the lift and got on the Mako. The ride to the Conduit was hair-raising enough even to make Garrus almost wish the damn Geth had killed him earlier. Between Shepard's driving, rockets blasting at them, and the armature cannons, it was all he could do to slap omni gel on everything for the few seconds she would stop the vehicle for repairs. As soon as she saw him slap a patch on it; she sped off again. She yelled when she saw the beam of light, "Hold on because we aren't stopping." Garrus and Vashlani gripped their seats, and double checked their harnesses in the few seconds it took her to barrel straight through the huge geth that were left to defend the Conduit and head straight for the beam.

"Shepard, your fuckkkingggg craaaazyyyy!" Garrus yelled as she hit the booster rockets and entered the relay.

 

* * *

 

It was only seconds later that the Mako went flying through the air and slammed into several geth that had noticed the statue of Mass Relay, that was the Conduit, light up and start to spin. Shepard pulled herself from the wreckage of the Mako, soon followed by Garrus and Vashlani who stumbled and fell to his knees, moaning. "That was horrible. Even worse than when the spell pulled me from my dimension."

They heard the noise of data exchange and stood as quickly as they could, a husk and several geth charged at them. Shepard and Garrus fired at the geth while Vashlani tossed several sparks at the husk. The three of them approached AVINA once the enemies were dead. The VI interface was damaged and told them that the station was severely damaged, civilian casualties were high and that there were unauthorized synthetics on the Citadel. When asked about Saren, the VI told them he had entered the Council Chambers. Shepard then asked about Anderson and Udina. The VI told her it couldn't trace individuals. Vashlani muttered that it was able to do so with Saren why not others. Shepard had to agree with him there. The Council members, she was told, had been evacuated to the Destiny Ascension.

"Ok, it looks like the master control panel for the Citadel is somewhere in the Council's Chambers, let's hurry and stop Saren. The Citadel's defense force suffered significant damage, and it looks like they won't be able to hold out much longer." They ran for the lift and started up to the top floor, outside they could see pieces of ships falling through the opening of the arms. However, when they looked up, they noticed that the arms started to close. Shepard wasn't sure if it was to keep the opposing force out or to keep the defenders from getting inside to defeat Sovereign, who had just flown between the arms and seemed to attach itself to the tip of the tower.

All of a sudden the lift shook then stopped. "Damn it. Saren shut down the lift. Check your seals; we're going to have to walk up the side."

"Wait, what do you mean by that? We are so far up. We will fall to our deaths." Vashlani backed against the wall as he looked at them.

Shepard walked up to him and took one of his hands in hers. "Trust me, Vashlani. Your suit will keep you safe. Do exactly as I tell you. Access the HUD in your helmet, just like you do for your camera, and search for mag lock, then subdirectory boots and activate it. It will cause your boots to lock onto the metal of the lift, and we will walk up the side of it. I will be in front, then you, and right behind you will be Garrus. We won't let you fall; we trust you. Now please, trust us."

Vashlani gripped her hand. "I trust you." A few seconds later his feet felt rooted to the ground. "Ok, it says they are activated."

"Vashlani, secure your mage's staff inside your bag. If you drop it, or the staff gets knocked out of your hand, we won't be able to catch it." Garrus told him as he double checked the seals on the khajiit's armor. Once the staff was secured and various potions tucked into their compartments, he put the bag into another compartment and made sure it was sealed before he nodded. As soon as he did, Shepard used her pistol to shoot the glass of the lift, and they exited.

Shepard held her hand out, and Vashlani faltered at the opening. "Only look at me Vashlani, nowhere else. Just at me and give me your hand."

He removed the death grip he had on the piece of metal at the opening and reached for her; they could see how badly he shook. When her hand closed around his, he put a hesitant foot outside of the lift, and the boot made a click as it attached to the wall. Then his other foot came out and did the same. "That's it, well done. Garrus is right behind you. It is important we move as quickly as we can. The boots will let you walk or run as normal, so don't be frightened."

At his nod, they started forward, Shepard pulled her weapon and saw him ready spells in both hands while Garrus readied his rifle.

When Vashlani became more confident in the mag-locked boots, they were able to pick up speed.

They encountered many geth and a few krogan as they worked their way up the tower. Garrus pointed and called out the geth dropship that flew overhead. Shepard approached the area where the dropship hovered and took a quick look around. "Garrus, they shut down the defense turrets, you get those up while Vashlani and I keep the geth busy."

"On it, Shepard." Garrus slipped the rifle onto his back, and as soon as they ran around the corner, he dove for the nearest turret and turned it on. Vashlani was right behind him alternating lightning bolts with chain lightning, finishing them off with a spark. The damage he dealt was enough to draw the largest portion of geth toward him instead. Vashlani quickly reapplied his mage armor to bolster the shields of the suit, then chose to cast a lightning rune near where the geth came out of the ship.

They moved to the next turret when a large explosion and crackle sound came from near them. Several of the geth had been caught up in the rune when it exploded, and it sent them flying backward and knocked others off their feet. Several never got back up. Garrus was able to get another turret back online and finally with enough of them attacking the dropship; it flew off, and they mopped up the rest of the geth before Shepard used a dose of medigel on everyone. Vashlani drank a blue potion, then tucked the phial back into his suit's compartment.

Shepard gathered up whatever she could from the geth and placed it all in Vashlani's backpack.

When they were ready, they started to move again, and they rounded a corner and Shepard barely dodged a blast from a turret. "Shit." She gripped her gun tighter. "It's game over if we get hit by one of those blasts." She looked back around the corner again and tried to gauge where the turrets were, also where the geth were hiding and if there was any cover. When she turned back, she described the setup and possible cover locations. Vashlani moved her back and pulled out his staff.

"This may give us enough time to move to cover. Try not to get in front of Vashlani. He will send out bolts of lightning at those turrets, also try and stay out of melee range of me. This khajiit will use a cloak to help protect him in case one of the geth moves in to hit him. Although, he would appreciate it if you kept them away." He gave a short laugh then gripped his staff before he crouched as far down as possible and moved around the corner, stood and sent out a summons. Vashlani dove toward the closest barrier as the turret fired.

The small group leaned up against the wall after the last turret went up with a spectacular boom and ball of flame after another of the summoned creatures hit it with a powered up lightning spell.

He looked at his staff, and could barely see the shimmer of the enchantment any longer and tried to muffle his sigh before he slipped it into his pocket bag.

"What's wrong?" Garrus asked him as he checked his rifle and saw how the khajiit had hung his head.

"Vashlani's staff won't work anymore, not until he can charge it up. But without more of the filled gems, it's impossible. That is a concern for later; he can still cast magic."

They pushed away from the wall and ran down the small access corridor to a hatch that led them down into the Citadel Tower.

When they opened the door into the Council Chambers, they were attacked by more geth units. Shepard saw Saren at what must have been the main control panel, where it had come from she didn't know and right now was too busy trying to kill the geth to reach him to care.

When the last geth fell, they ran for Saren only to watch him drop down off the side of the ramp and disappear. They approached the area cautiously, Saren raised up on his hover board and threw a mine at them. When it exploded, they went flying in several different directions then scrambled for cover.

Saren started to talk with Shepard, and the more they talked, the more he began to realize that he had made a mistake. The Reapers had changed him in more ways than one. The Spectre had fallen and became a tool for galaxy's destruction rather than its salvation. She tried to talk him into redemption, to help them fight against the Reapers, but even he knew it was too late. The Reapers had him, and his only chance at redemption was to sever the connection between the Reaper and himself. His voice had grown softer in those last few minutes. The regret in his voice was clear to the human. The sadness, and horror at what he had done-- what he had become-- was evident to Garrus as he stood and faced the Spectre.

"Goodbye, Shepard and thank you." Saren's last words to her held a respect and gentleness that he would never have shown a human before that moment. Saren raised the gun and fired before Shepard could stop his suicide.

Shepard approached the panel and uploaded the program from Vigil. "The program worked, I have full control of the Citadel."

"Get those arms open, Shepard. The Citadel Defense Fleet may be able to get in there and get rid of Sovereign before it can regain control," Garrus said to her as he stood beside her.

"Maybe you should try to contact Joker?" Vashlani hesitantly said. He had no idea what to do. All he knew was they needed to get help in there to get rid of that giant thing that caused all these problems.

Shepard activated her omni tool, and they heard a bunch of static before a distress call came in from the Destiny Ascension. The asari dreadnought touted to be the most powerful of the asari forces needed help. The barriers were failing, the gun was offline, and pretty much they were up shit creek without a paddle; so much for asari navel military might.

"Normandy to the Citadel, come in Citadel. I hope the hell that's you, Commander. I caught that distress call. I'm here with the entire fifth fleet; we can save the Ascension, just open the relays."

"Shepard, you sure you want to do that? You'll lose a lot of reinforcements before they can even get to Sovereign. And you know damn well the Council wouldn't lift a finger to save any of you." Garrus' mandibles were twitching; he was aware that the Council would have turned their back on the humans to save themselves.

"This Council you speak of, they wouldn't save you? You are not them; you are better than that."

Shepard looked at them both then turned to look out the huge window of the chamber. "I'm opening the relays, save the Council."

"Aye, Aye, Commander. I hope they appreciate this." Before the comm cut, they heard him snort and mutter, "Yeah... right."

The air filled with the Alliance vessels and they could hear the comm chatter and see the fleet taking out the geth ships; they also took heavy casualties. "Destiny Ascension, this is the SSV Normandy. You are free and clear; I repeat you are free and clear. Get the Council to safety."

"Garrus, you and Vashlani go make sure Saren's dead. I'll finish up here."

The others walked to the end of the platform and jumped into the hole that Saren had made in the glass top when he fell through it. Garrus walked up to him and shot him several times in the head; he called back that it was done.

No sooner had he said that then the room below was filled with red lightning, the same color that the hologram of Sovereign was when they encountered it on Virmire. The tower began to shake violently as the lightning converged on the body of the dead Spectre. Melting away the last of the organic parts of what was once Saren, until all that was left was synthetic. Bones, eyes all were metal or cybernetics.

"I am Sovereign. This station is mine." The mix of Saren and Sovereign's voices was grating, the further sacrilege of the turian was offensive, and Shepard vowed to stop it. To put Saren to rest and to end Sovereign and the Reapers. As the abomination fell, it disintegrated into red ash that darkened and scattered on the floor.

A few moments after the defeat of the Saren-Sovereign construct they heard Joker over the comms telling the fleet that the Reaper's shields were down, and they now had a chance.

Shepard and the others looked out of the windows as the tower shook again and they saw the Reaper blasted apart. They also saw a huge chunk of debris heading straight for them. They started running as a section from the leg of the Reaper came crashing through the window.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all those that read or will read this story, thank you. I appreciated all the comments and kudos, and I'm glad that you enjoyed it. 
> 
> I will begin to post the second part of this three-part series in one or two weeks, and I hope you'll enjoy it as well.

* * *

 

 

Shepard groaned and opened her eyes to see the canopy of Vashlani's bed. She shifted and let out a hiss. "Easy, Shepard. This khajiit did not have enough potions or magicka left to heal you fully. Vashlani just now finished restocking."

She looked toward the doorway as he came in wearing a robe and carrying several phials in his hands.

"Why the hell am I in your bed; naked?"

He purred, "Vashlani could say that he swept you off your feet, and you ended up in his bed willingly. Alas, that is not so. When that thing fell into the tower, it came right at us. We didn't see the smaller piece that had entered first and hit us. It knocked you out and almost did the same to me. This khajiit had just enough time to take us into the bag so I could heal you. Do not worry; Vashlani was professional, he didn't look... much." He helped her to sit up still grinning at her expression. The healing glow of his hands washed over her, and she sighed out in relief.

"How long have we been here?"

"Hmm, maybe two hours at the most. Vashlani sent a message to Garrus to let him know we were safe. His injuries are minor, a few applications of medigel was all he needed. He's still waiting to be rescued from the top of the tower and will send a notice when he hears someone. It should give us time to get back into the tower and be found." He gathered up his stuff and started to leave, "Your armor is in that chest."

She got up and shook her head; he had stripped her bare. The pervert. She took a short shower before dressing in the armor. When she went down to the main part of the house, Shepard noticed he had changed back into his armor.

He set a plate with a sandwich on it, and some cut up vegetables along with a bottle of ale in front of her. "What do you think will happen now, Shepard? Will the other ones finally listen and be ready?"

"I don't know, Vashlani. All we can do is try to prepare and spread the word. Be watching for anything that indicates they arrived."

He let out a purr and only nodded.

A beep sounded from his data pad, and he told her it was time to leave.

When they went back to the tower that was still on fire, and they carefully made their way down from the top the Reaper leg. He thanked the Divines that it didn't put them under the leg, and they jammed themselves under a fallen piece of the bridge. He smeared a bit of dirt on them both and made sure that his mask was in place, and his tail was hidden by a now slightly torn and filthy cloak. "Vashlani will need to use the fabricator again. We need to go shopping when they finally arrive to "rescue" us, Shepard."

She let out a snort, and they both listened. At last, they made out someone calling her name. "Well, guess it's time for us to get rescued." She stood up and headed for the closest pile of debris followed by Vashlani.

 

* * *

 

Tali and Garrus helped him carry his bags of fabric back to the ship. The crew was given a few credits for their expenses.

"The Council are a bunch of bosh'tets, Garrus. All of us risked our lives, and the Alliance lost most of their one fleet to save their asses and what does the crew get? Barely enough credits to restock supplies."

"At least the Alliance offered to fix the Normandy, and Vashlani sold a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables on the black market. How the hell he was able to grow so many I don't know, and I'm not about to ask."

"Vashlani will have a few more crates ready for both ones like you and Shepard by the time the ship is ready to go again. This khajiit needs to make another stop, though, Garrus. He wants the biggest chip for my datapad he can buy. Vashlani has more holos he wants to take, and Joker said he wanted to send me the vid of the fight against Sovereign. That's going to take a lot of space."

Vashlani watched Garrus set up what he called an external storage drive inside the study of his house. They thought it a better to get one of those than to try and keep buying small chips. "What're you doing now, Garrus?"

"This panel and these wires are what will supply power to this storage drive. I'll get on top of your house and hook this board up, the light from that... whatever it is, will charge those batteries I installed in the basement's storage room, and that is where the power will come from so you can use it."

Vashlani purred as he watched and when it was all done, Garrus showed him how to transfer everything over from his data pad to the OSDs. The shop had thrown them in as a bonus, on the already heavily discounted purchase, for a crew member of the ship that had stopped the geth invasion. Of course, all of them blinked at the salarian for calling it a geth attack when it wasn't one.

"Now all you need to do is copy it from one of these to the primary drive, like this." He tapped a couple of buttons on the devices holo screen, "And now, click this small lock here to make sure it won't accidentally delete. Lastly, clear the data from the OSD and then it is ready for you to transfer more stuff from your datapad to it. Once they're full, just follow those first steps to put it on here and you're ready to go again."

Vashlani took several holos and Garrus watched as he transferred them. Then Garrus showed him how to delete the unwanted ones. When they were both sure that the khajiit knew the process, they went back to the Normandy.

 

* * *

 

A few days later Shepard stood leaning against the railing of the dock and tried to get her temper under control. The Council still refused to believe, even after the Reaper attacked and all the intel that was gathered from Virmire and Ilos, that the Reapers were still the biggest threat. That this wasn't something that Saren cooked up and made her believe, that she wasn't delusional or a trouble maker. They also gave her the next assignment, hunting pockets of geth in the ass end of the universe; it was as far from the Citadel as they could get her.

She leaned against Joker's chair and asked him for an open channel then proceeded to tell them what the Council said and their mission. You could hear the shouts and curses from several different languages all over the ship. "Garrus, report to the bridge, please."

When Garrus walked up, she pulled him to the side and handed him a datapad. On it was her approved recommendation for his acceptance as a Spectre candidate. "We need all the Spectres we can get, and we lost two of the best, you are an excellent candidate to join the ranks."

Garrus stared at the pad then back up at her, "I - I don't know what to say, Shepard. How did you get this past my father?"

She snorted, "Garrus, when you save a bunch of lives like we did, sometimes all it takes is a word in the right ear. In this case the many words of the people on not only the Ascension but various turian ships as well. When they heard that you wanted to be a Spectre and that I put forth your name, they all seemed to come out of the woodwork to back it. Your father didn't stand a chance against that kind of support. Now the spot is yours if you want it, but you have to leave now, Garrus, before we leave the dock. They're expecting you in three days to start your training."

After Garrus had said his goodbyes to the crew, Vashlani handed him a large sack of taffy, a pail that he had filled with sabrecat stew, and a basket with several bottles of mead in it before he left the ship.

Joker sent the departure request. Time to hunt geth.

 

* * *

 

They were gathered in a mess several months later when a bright, swirling light appeared. Vashlani stood and moved near the light while the others went for their weapons. When the light faded, several people stood there. There were several different races and all radiated power and stared at the crew. There was one that was the same race as Vashlani in a hooded robe and even one that looked like an enormous lizard.

"Arch-Mage? How did you get here? How did you find Vashlani?"

The dark-skinned male in a hooded robe looked around, his red eyes took in the people pointing strange things at them all, and his people glowed with the red of fire, the cold whiteness of ice, and the purplish-blue of lightning.

"Vashlani? Are you unharmed? You're not being held prisoner or tortured?" The hooded male lowered his hood when Vashlani shook his head no.

"No, these are Vashlani's friends."

The man let out a hum, and the others let their magics fade but didn't take their eyes off the ship's crew. "We kept trying to locate the dimension that the apprentice sent you to. We would have been here earlier if he remembered the exact phrasing he used. There was some damage to the school, and some of the instructors were against us looking for you. They seemed convinced that the implosion killed you. When we get back, I will be glad to show them they were wrong. Now if you are ready, J'zargo has an open spot on his shoulder for you to grip. Let's go home."

"Vashlani? You're leaving?" Shepard lowered her weapon and took several steps to stand beside him.

"Vashlani would like to go home but would like to be with his friends on the Normandy too. Vashlani is the only one of his kind here with you. But Joker, Healer, Garrus, and you...", he looked around at them all. "Vashlani doesn't know what to do."

Chakwas and Joker walked toward him now as well, "We don't want you to go, Vashlani, but it would be safer in your dimension. Here you would always be in danger."

"Doc is right, Vash. We'll let Garrus know that you found a way to get home, and maybe that pad of yours will still work somehow, and we can still talk. You never know."

Vashlani nodded to them both then looked at Shepard. "This is a good thing, I guess, your people finding you and taking you back home."

"Yes. Vashlani would like to see his home again. But will not like being unable to see you again Shepard, except on holos and vids."

They stood staring at each other for several minutes before a throat cleared and a reminder that they needed to go. Vashlani picked up his travel bag and drew out an apple and handed it to her before he slipped it on.

"Goodbye, Shepard. May you walk on warm sands." Vashlani looked at them all then placed a hand on the other khajiit's shoulder.

Shepard took several steps toward them, her eyes never leaving Vashlani's, seconds later the area was illuminated with a bright light then they were gone.

 

* * *

 

The alarms blared as the Normandy came under attack by an unknown hostile. Shepard had barely enough time to throw on her emergency armor before the VI warned of multiple hull breaches. She stumbled and saw something fall off her desk; it was the small bird that Vashlani had made for her, she grabbed it and ran out the door.

The corridors were full of yelling panicky people. Shepard directed them to the pods as she ran for the emergency panels. She heard someone call out her name, and she turned to see Kaidan and Ashley heading her way. She told them to get everyone to the escape pods quickly, that the Alliance would be there soon, then she launched the beacon and heard Liara yell that Joker wouldn't leave the bridge.

"Go, get to a pod. I'll take care of Joker."

She headed for the bridge. Debris blocked one of the doors, so she ran toward the other one. When the door slid open, it was to find a section of the hull missing. Datapads, chairs, and pieces of her ship floated in the zero gravity. Her boots locked her down, and she made her way to the bridge, the emergency barrier had activated, and she saw Joker; still in the seat trying to send out emergency calls on several channels. His personal breather mask was in place, and she bent down to try and get his attention off the control panel in front of him.

"Joker, we have to go. The Normandy's lost, us going down with it won't make a difference. Come on; we need to go."

He hesitated then gave a brief nod, his eyes flicked to a static filled readout, "Shit, they're coming around again."

Shepard didn't wait, but grabbed him by the arm and dragged him from the chair. The potions had strengthened his bones enough that they didn't snap completely, but the fractures that he sustained caused him to hiss out in pain as she pulled him toward the bridge's escape pod. She shoved him into it, then pushed the small bird into his hand, her eyes on his as she did so. "Shepard..."

An explosion rocked the remainder of the ship, and she barely had time to push the eject button before she was thrown against the wall and out into space.

She breathed slowly, no need to panic, the Alliance... a hissing sound caught her attention, then the inability to breathe as the suit gave out the warning of ruptured oxygen lines. She flailed around trying to find the break, to stop the leak before it killed her. Her last thought was of Vashlani as she saw the sun coming up over Alchera's horizon and the pain intensified as she ran out of oxygen. Her body caught in the planet's gravity field, her vision went dark, then nothing.

 

* * *

 

Vashlani wandered around the College, most of the time not doing much of anything but sitting on a bench and rubbing a piece of metal between his fingers. The Arch-Mage noticed his withdrawn behavior and called him to his office.

"What's wrong, Vashlani? You're very different than what you were like when you first arrived." The Arch-Mage indicated a chair, and Vashlani sat.

"Vashlani misses Shepard and his other friends. He misses the adventures and the new things to discover. Vashlani's data pad no longer works for the Normandy crew data banks or message center."

The Arch-Mage raised an eyebrow at him; he had no idea what the khajiit meant.

"Vashlani wishes he could go back to see them." He looked up at the Arch-Mage when he heard him let out a sigh and a small hum.

"Maybe you can, Vashlani, at least temporarily. The spell we used to find you may work for one of them. First, you will need to set a portal. Don't look so surprised about me knowing of the portals. That old reprobate you called your Master was fascinated by them when we were studying here, and I'm probably the only one left alive that knows he managed to create the stable spell work for it."

"The portal! Vashlani forgot he had set a portal on the Normandy." He jumped up from the chair, and the Arch-Mage held up a hand.

"Wait, before you go thundering off, set a portal here, for when you want to return to the College. Follow me." He led Vashlani to the main circular room that held his alchemy and enchanting tables and had a resplendent garden in the center that took up most of the central chamber. "Here use this storeroom to place the portal."

After the glittering symbol had settled into the floor, Vashlani thanked the Arch-Mage and ran back to his new chambers. He grabbed his spare clothing out of the closet along with anything and everything he had laying around, then ran to the College's storeroom and withdrew all his allotted supplies for the entire month. Once he had everything, he stuffed it all in his travel bag and ran for the burned out shack beside the Inn in the ruins of the town. He no sooner made it around the corner when he entered the bag.

He dumped everything he had into the box, then took back only the standard survival gear that he kept with him, the supply journals, and his datapad, before closing the lid and running for the portal room. He had a huge grin on his face, with the portals in each place he could go back and forth if it worked. He could bring Shepard here to his dimension; to show her his world.

He cast a magelight at the lantern on the pedestal and opened the tome. The grin slid off his face as he watched the Normandy's entry fade from the book.


End file.
